Longwood University currently provides 11 residential halls and three apartment communities to students. However, several residential halls are slated to be shut down in the near future as the student population continues to grow. Inevitable changes in housing are near.
In spring 2011, it was announced French Hall would close following the fall 2011 semester for renovation. The students who resided there in the fall would need to relocate for the second half of the year.
While Residential & Commuter Life (RCL) did not want to move students in the middle of the year, Larry Robertson, associate dean of students & executive director of residential and commuter life, said the need to retire French as a residential hall and turn it into an instructional technology (IT) building is dire. "That's definitely something Longwood needs as a whole," he said.
RCL assured students they would not leave French's residents homeless. "In mid-October, I'm going to meet with all of the residents there and find out where they want to move in the spring," said Assistant Director of Occupancy Management Jean Wilwohl.
Wilwohl said RCL has been in "constant communication with the French residents" and has even offered to move some students into rooms made available by no-shows. Originally, there were over 80 students assigned to live in French this semester, but the number dwindled to about 60.
As for next year, Robertson said French's closing would lower the amount of bed space on campus. "The retention rate was higher and the freshman class was considerably larger than what we anticipated," he said.
Another major change in housing is the increase of students in transitional housing (more than two roommates assigned to a room). "The larger freshman class did have a huge impact on the number of people in transitional housing," Robertson said.
The number of students living in transitional housing this semester grew from 90 last year to about 270. "Trust me, we did not anticipate that, nor would I have ever dreamed it," Robertson said. If the amount of students continues to increase, transitional housing may become more common in the future.
While juniors and seniors often choose to live in Longwood-managed housing, Wilwohl said this might have to change in the years to come. Longwood will be able to house a large amount of juniors and seniors, but some will no longer have guaranteed housing.
Robertson noted the ever-growing number of students will "probably hinder our ability in the future, if not next year, to house everyone who wants to be housed on main campus and in the apartment complexes." Wilwohl added, "I don't want everyone to go into a panic saying juniors and seniors aren't getting housing—they are." Wilwohl said Longwood will house as many students as possible, but 60 to 80 juniors or seniors may have to live elsewhere for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Robertson said freshmen and sophomores "will continue to have housing guaranteed" because students with 56 credits or less will still be required to live on campus. Wilwohl said, "We believe there's an educational component to that, and we believe it is in their best interest, both academically and getting connected to Longwood, to live on campus."
What will change, however, is that sophomores will no longer be able to be pulled in by upperclassmen to live in Longwood-managed apartment complexes such as Lancer Park, Longwood Landings, and Longwood Village starting in fall 2012. This will keep freshmen and sophomores on campus and give juniors and seniors more access to apartment communities.
Additional bed space in Lancer Park will be available in the fall of 2013, through the North Campus project, which will help replace the housing lost by the renovation of French and the future demolition of Cunningham Residence Hall.
RCL has formed a plan for the future of housing in general. "We've already met with the executive board of the Student Government Association [SGA] and they think it's a good plan," said Wilwohl. While the SGA Senate inquired about housing for fifth, sixth, and seven-year seniors (RCL will reconvene soon to provide an answer), they approved the rest of RCL's plan.
While the changes in housing are new to Longwood and may prove to be challenging, RCL is working hard to adapt to these changes appropriately. "We're really trying to plan how we can get the information out to students and meet the needs of everyone we can," said Wilwohl. Robertson agreed, saying, "RCL is always planning on what we can do to continue to provide the most attractive and most cost-effective housing we can to our students."
