CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of undergraduate students living on campus. Elon News Network regrets this error. Elon News Network also updated this article as of 2:20 p.m. March 18 to include additional clarifying information on what a lease turnover is and included that while students living in Crest, Danieley and Oaks apartments are no longer able to renew their leases, they can participate in the housing selection process the same way other students.
Elon University upperclassmen face challenges with housing following residence life’s announcement no longer allowing all residents in the Crest, Danieley and Oaks apartments to renew their leases. Students living in Park Place and Station at Mill Point apartments were allowed to renew at designated times earlier this semester. Students living in Crest, Danieley and Oaks are able to participate in the housing selection process, the same as students who did not previously have leases in these neighborhoods.
This is the first year the change will be implemented. Elon University reports that 69.4% of undergraduates live on campus, which includes 754 juniors and seniors. Elon’s housing requirement requires students to live on-campus for a student’s first two years, unless they are accepted for a housing exemption. Oaks Apartment Manager Senior Todd Williams has worked with residence life for three years and feels the change is necessary for that promised policy.
“The fact that there are more freshmen, it’s something where they needed to readjust that because they need to continue to offer that requirement to live on campus for those two years,” Williams said.
Junior Oaks resident Ryan McKenna said going into his senior year, he and his housemates are struggling to find housing around the university as spots have been claimed faster than he anticipated. He said it’s become “much more competitive” with the change.
McKenna and his roommate are currently looking at the apartment complexes Hawthorne at St. Marks and Retreat at the Park, both located in Burlington. Both complexes start charging students $1,200 for a one-bedroom apartment with prices increasing to $100 or more for each additional room. Hawthorne at St. Marks currently has only six available apartments, while the Retreat at The Park has seven open.
“We each had the mindset, that from people we know who are older, that looking around January, it should work out because of what they’ve gone through, but that hasn’t been the exact case right now,” McKenna said.
Williams said the housing process for on-campus housing is “very streamlined.” The process only requires residents to apply, pay the required $125 housing reservation fee and choose where they want to live based on their assigned selection times.
There are 770 apartments offered by the university, ranging in price from $7,830 to $12,504 per year. As for off-campus housing, Williams said there are options that allow students to have the same opportunities of being close and possibly paying cheaper. Residence life provides a guide for housing complexes they partner with, that can be found on its website.
“I think the only region it’s kind of affecting is the rising juniors because they’ve probably already renewed last year to be in the same apartment,” Williams said.
Those who would like to have the same rooms in the apartments not allowing renewals will have to follow the timeline and procedures for housing selection.
McKenna remembers at the beginning of the year residence life pushed out emails to upperclassmen to start looking for housing for next year. While he planned to live off campus, he said residents were never made aware that they could not renew leases.
“There wasn’t any real warning,” McKenna said. “It was much more of a situation of, this is the limit, this is what we’re going to do and just being implemented.”
Students in Park Place or The Station at Mill Point will be given the opportunity for lease turnovers starting April 12 to 26 through the housing cancellation application. Lease turnovers are not a part of the renewal process, but occur when a student realizes they aren’t able to fulfill the terms of the lease and can turnover that space to another student.
Leases for the 2024-25 academic year will start on June 1 or 15, depending on the neighborhood. For students who are having trouble finding an apartment to lease, Today at Elon has a “Want Ads | Housing” section for students looking for housing and roommates, which also provides contact information. For any questions students may contact residence life.will have to follow the timeline and procedures for housing selection.