About 120 Washington University students are still without housing assignments as of yesterday, down from more than 200 after the end of the second round lottery.

So far, all groups have been able to stay together, but that may change during the upcoming week.

“There has always been a pool of unassigned people,” said Rob Wild, associate director of Residential Life. “We make as many people happy as we can.”

Wild attributes the unusually high number of unassigned students to the popularity of four-person suites this year.

For the last two years, six-person suites have been the most popular. He says it’s too hard to predict which size students will go for.

“I’d love to hit the number exactly but that’s impossible,” he said. “It varies from year to year.”

To help ease the problem, ResLife is moving some groups already assigned to dorms on the South 40 to off-campus apartments, the students’ original first choice. This has been especially common in Gregg Hall according to Wild. ResLife’s initial goal was to have everyone assigned to housing by today, but the deadline has been extended one week in hopes of keeping more groups together. There are enough spaces to accommodate all students who want to live on the 40, but not necessarily in their desired groups.

Wild sympathizes with these students, but admits the system isn’t perfect.

“It’s a tough time of the year not to know about housing,” he said. “Unfortunately it doesn’t always work out. Hopefully we’ll do a better job next year.”

Wild’s comment expressed his hope that the problems in this year’s selection process will be smoothed out the next time around.

“Every year in the fall, we review the spring room assignments process with a group called the Room Selection Task Force,” said Wild. “That group will meet again this fall to review the process. It certainly is not our preference to have students unassigned at the end of the process, so we will look at how to decrease this number for next year.”

Wild did note that it would be possible for students who are still without housing to obtain a refund of their advanced payments.

“We take appeals for the $450 advance payment refund on a case by case basis, so a student should come into our office and speak to someone if they feel they have a valid reason to have that payment refunded,” said Wild.

Freshman Alex Broad applied for a four-person suite with three of his floormates but was denied housing both in round one and two. He feels cheated, but still wants to maintain his group.

“We’d rather live together off campus than apart on campus,” he said.

He added that the University should build bigger dorms to accommodate students who are in similar situations.

Currently, most dorms still have empty rooms. Millbrook apartments and the Village offer other opportunities for those who don’t wish to live on the South 40.

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