LSU ResLife told the Reveille East and West Campus apartments will only house first-year students next year, a move that will restrict upperclassmen from returning to on-campus housing.
In an email provided to The Reveille, LSU ResLife told a student that WCA will be a “first-year community” starting next year.
ResLife said it would formally announce the news to ECA and WCA residents by Wednesday at the latest.
For some upperclassmen living in the WCA and ECA communities, the announcement of limited housing sparked frustration as students say the decision leaves them scrambling for housing months earlier than expected.
LSU junior Benjamin Rodriguez, who lives in WCA, learned about this by emailing ResLife to ask about the selection process for the upcoming academic year.
“I heard through the grapevine that incoming freshmen weren’t allowed to select Nicholson Gateway because it was being reserved for our class,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to see if ResLife was doing what they did last year — moving upperclassmen out of ECA.”
Director of ResLife Peter Trentacoste says this temporary restriction is necessary to reserve enough beds for what is projected to be another large freshman class.
Trentacoste did not provide an estimated number of freshmen for the next fall semester.
Upperclassmen residents say this decision leaves them little time to find affordable housing off campus, particularly for students with disabilities or without transportation.
A new dorm is being built to accommodate the large number of freshmen who will continue to be admitted. According to planning documents, the dorm will house 1,200 and will be done by fall 2027.
LSU announced this year’s freshman class broke enrollment records for the eighth year in a row.
“There would be very limited spots in WCA based on the numbers,” Trentacoste said. “So we decided to add WCA and ECA for one last year. If we weren’t building this new housing project, we would actually be going beyond this. We don’t want to do that.”
“History is repeating itself again”
LSU engineering junior Gerald Lê experienced this last year while rooming with Rodriguez. Being a STEM major, living on campus is helpful while balancing his workload.
“Last year it was so late in the game that it was difficult to find housing. This year will be even more chaotic,” Lê said. “We got lucky [last year], but not everyone else did. Now it feels like history is repeating itself again.”
For Rodriguez, being denied on-campus housing is detrimental because he has a documented vision disability. Despite having support from the LSU Office of Disability Services, he has been struggling to get on-campus accommodations.
“ResLife has denied my ability to get housing on campus despite a vision disability,” Rodriguez said. “I have a letter from Disability Services saying it would be in my best interest to live on campus. They still rejected it.”
ResLife sent an email to student Tuesday afternoon notifying them of the chnages. he pointed them to a timeline outlining the selection dates for next year’s housing, including the day students can request Nicholson Gateway Apartments.
“What we can’t do — and will never do — is let people sign up as upperclass students and then say in the final hour, ‘I’m sorry, but we didn’t plan well and we can’t provide you housing,’” Trentacoste said. “Other campuses do this in June or July. LSU is not going to do that.”
Nicholson Gateway Apartments will not be affected by this change. Upperclassmen will still have the opportunity to apply to live there as space becomes available during housing selection.
“We have about 2,600 apartment beds and Nicholson alone has around 1,600,” Trentacoste said. “So we’re really talking about the balance at WCA and ECA being held for one last year. We housed well over a thousand upperclass students last year and I have full confidence we’ll do that again.”
According to their websites, ECA houses about 670 students while WCA houses 500.
Students must pay a non-refundable fee by Feb. 10 if they get into the apartments.
“Everyone’s already planning for next year and we only have until February to figure out where we can live,” Rodriguez said.
