ODU TO HOST OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING FAIR TODAY IN WEBB CENTER
The Office of Student Activities and Leadership is sponsoring an Off-Campus Housing Fair in North Cafeteria, Webb University Center, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, July 20. Property management representatives and realtors will be on-hand to provide information to current or admitted Old Dominion University students interested in learning more about off-campus housing options.
Notice of the fair was sent to students via the on-campus daily e-mail and in a letter notifying housing applicants who have not received on-campus housing for the fall semester. Those applicants include a small number of freshmen and transfer students, as well as upperclassmen that did not participate in the Return Housing process last spring.
The Off-campus Housing Fair is one of several initiatives of the Offices of Student Affairs and Institutional Advancement to address the shortage of on-campus housing this year. A similar fair was held in June. Although this will be the final such event for the summer, the Off-Campus Housing Web site offers assistance to students through a variety of resources, accessible at http://studentaffairs.odu.edu/offcampushousing.
In addition to these efforts, staff from the offices of admissions, housing, the registrar, among others, are meeting weekly to review the situation and to recommend strategic actions to alleviate housing shortages in the coming years.
"ODU typically houses 1,400-1,500 freshmen each year. This year we are housing 1,780," noted Sue Mitchell, interim director of housing. A total of 3,764 beds are being provided on-campus this year.
John R. Broderick, vice president for institutional advancement, admissions and chief of staff, commented on the change in the residential demographics. "ODU can no longer be considered a commuter campus," he remarked. "Less than four years ago, we rented residential space to Johnson & Wales. Now we have a demand for rooms that are not even finished yet."
Broderick added that freshmen applications to ODU for the 2007-2008 academic year increased nearly 17 percent over last year and accepted applications are at 6,000 � a 15 percent increase over last year's number. Because of a more competitive selection process, the number of accepted freshmen as a percentage of applications received actually fell slightly from 2006.
In response to the enrollment increases, the Office of Housing has reconfigured some dormitories to create 75 new triplets for freshmen. Construction of new residence buildings continues, with space for an additional 286 residents anticipated by Fall 2008, and another 568 by Fall 2009.