An increase in the number of incoming freshman this fall has created a higher demand for campus housing causing many students to be placed on a waiting list for campus housing or to be forced to seek other housing options.
Last year there were less than 4,800 new freshman registered for the university. This year there are 5,430 new freshmen enrolled at LSU.
The waiting list for campus housing at its peak was 1,000 students. This week the waiting list contains 253 students. The waiting list for campus housing is first come first serve and preference is not given based on whether or not the student is from out of state.
“The demand for campus housing has gone up because the quality of housing has gone up in the last ten years,” said Jay High Communications Manager for Residential Life.
Jake LeBas, a freshman at LSU, said he was placed on the waiting list for housing three months before school started.  He now lives at home and had to withdraw from the waiting list so his fee bill would not be charged with a meal plan. ” It didn’t affect my decision to go to LSU, but I didn’t get the freshman experience I really wanted,” said LeBas.
It is the student’s responsibility to find their own housing, but the Residential Life office is doing several things to help.  First, the Residential Life office urges students to have a back up plan in place as soon as they are placed on a waiting list for campus housing. Also students are encouraged to apply for housing early because housing fills up so quickly every semester.
Students on the waiting list are sent an email encouraging them to look at the Daily Reveille’s housing guide and visit the apartments located around campus as a possible alternative to campus housing.
The Residential Life staff is planning to implement several new features next year to help with the increase of freshman looking for housing.  First they plan to place a barometer on the Residential Life website showing how full housing is so new students know how soon they need to apply for housing.  They also plan to create an official apartment and housing guide for the university.
Students can stay on the waiting list for campus housing as long as they want, but after the universities date of record, students still on the waiting list will be offered several options. First, they can have their deposit refunded. “Because it is not their fault that there was not housing available, students can have that money back,” said High.
 Second, students can have their housing application roll over to the spring semester. Students can also have their application roll over to the fall 2011 semester.
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Helpful Links
www.lsu.edu/housing
www.lsu.edu/offcampuslife/
  www.lsureveille.com
http://appl003.lsu.edu/slas/reslifeweb.nsf/index