By Kurtis Kendall
Spring semester is in full swing and that means the housing selection process is upon us. For many students on campus, the procedure can be confusing. “I feel like they definitely don’t make it clear,” said Fitchburg Sophomore Thomas McNulty. “If you don’t take an active role in researching information you could easily get screwed over.” McNulty is referring to certain documents and applications you must hand in or you could otherwise miss out on your primary choice for housing.
Many students claim the housing process is not clear about certain steps. One example is students looking for a 4 or 5 person housing situation have to sign up with 6 people, just to have to drop one or two of their friends in the final housing determination.
Anthonio Garcia, a sophomore at Fitchburg has expressed frustrated with the University’s “outdated” housing webpage. “I wish they gave out more details, especially for the apartment process,” said Garcia, “I only knew about the apartment selection application through friends who had done it before.”
For any students confused about the housing procedure, here is a guide of the must-knows for housing:
In order to apply for on-campus housing, every student must fill out the housing application available through web4.
This application MUST be completed by Friday, March 1st.
This application is also where students will select their meal plan for the next school year
Apartments:
Along with the general housing application, if interested in living in apartment style, Gender Inclusive Suites, or Greek Life housing, there is an additional application that must be filled out and returned to the Housing Office by 5pm Friday, February 22nd.
To qualify for apartment selection you MUST: be a current Fitchburg State student, must live on the campus during Spring 2019 semester, Your name cannot appear on the May 2019 graduation list, and all group members must be in good financial standing.
Commuters cannot take part in Apartment Selection. If you are a commuter and interested in participating in the housing selection process, you may become a residential student by applying and depositing no later than Friday, February 22, 2019
Apartment selection will take place Wednesday, March 6th, 2019.
Selection is determined by total points based on credits: 0-23 credits = 1 point, 24-47 credits = 2 points, 48-71= 3 points, 72-119 credits = 4 points.
Apartment choices include Townhouses, North Street, and Simonds Hall.
Townhouses: 32 total apartments, 7 – 5 person apartments, 22 – 6 person apartments, 2 – 7 person apartments, and 1 – 8 person apartment.
North Street: 6 total apartments, all 6 are 5 person apartments.
Simonds: 34 total apartments, 4 – 3 person apartments, 19 – 4 person apartments, 11 – 5 person apartments (*4 of these 5 person apartments have a double room).
Gender Inclusive Suites will be assigned to Mara Village and include the same requirements for apartment selection.
Greek Life Suites will be assigned to Mara Village and include the same requirements for apartment selection with the addition that you MUST be affiliated with a recognized greek organization.
Aubuchon:
Students must link up on web4 and a random draw occurs that determines when your suitemates get to choose your housing. The suitemate who is given the earliest time will go into web4 and select which suite based on what is available. Suites are groups of 8 people, in four double rooms with a shared bathroom and lounge area.
Mara Village:
Mara Village is a complex of 8 buildings with about 6-7 suites per building. While there are some single rooms available, most bedrooms are doubles that share a bathroom and a lounge. Each building has a kitchen and common lounge area. The newest building, Mara 8 also includes a laundry room. To apply for housing, you must link up with other students on web4, similar to how the Aubuchon process works.
Herlihy:
The Herlihy Residence Halls are mostly rooms of doubles in long hallways similar to a hotel setup. Herlihy prominently has Criminal Justice and Nursing majors located there, as Fitchburg State tries to have them all in the same residence hall. Students would link up together on web4 and may be placed in Herlihy if they applied there, depending on the availability of rooms.
A Guide to Housing
March 3, 2019
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