Even though about 140 students were not assigned housing in Round 3 of the housing-selection process, the Office of Residential Life says that it will be able to provide housing for all students who signed housing contracts for the 2011-2012 school year.

The Office of Residential Life announced a new checkout policy to its residents by email on Wednesday. Now, students will have to tell Residential Life (ResLife) the hour during which they plan to leave campus for the summer.

On a guided tour and on Washington University’s website, at least one thing is made clear: Students at Washington University are guaranteed housing for the entirety of their undergraduate careers. But after the Office of Residential Life’s recent housing confusion, that promise seems increasingly empty.

Washington University has set undergraduate tuition for the 2011-2012 academic year at $40,950, a 3.9 percent increase from $39,400 tuition for the current academic year. Barbara Feiner, vice chancellor for finance, made the announcement in a news release on Thursday.

In the summer before senior year, most undergraduates are vying for an internship or for that research opportunity that will make post-graduation easier to handle. But chemical engineers Scott Burger and Sebastian Estenssoro decided they would go on one last adventure to make life before graduation all the more epic.

As Washington University students prepare to make next year’s housing arrangements, the University is looking into possible options for housing expansion, specifically north of the Delmar Loop. Dean James McLeod, the vice cancellor for students, sent students a questionnaire to gauge interest in the new housing possibility, and he said the administration is still researching different options.

February fills our calendars with the start of exams and heavier work loads; we remember influential African-Americans during Black History Month; and Valentine’s Day serves as a reminder to the couples about how very lucky they are while pushing the rest of us into a depression. In addition, there is one more element to this month that many Wash. U. students find particularly daunting.

Washington University’s Office of Residential Life has decided to expand gender-neutral housing to the entire North Side, including the Village, Millbrook, Village East and the off-campus apartments, following a series of deliberations. The housing will be available in the fall and can be applied for in the current round of the housing process.

Four years after Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s housing contract was cancelled, rhe fraternity is on track to return to House 6 on Fraternity Row for the upcoming fall semester.

So, after the latest attack on a (grad) student at our prestigious university, I have to wonder when—or if—something (anything!) is going to be done about the living conditions off campus. I find it highly ironic that while the University is busy turning the South 40 into Candy Land, students are getting mugged, beaten and robbed in and around their shady off-campus apartments. While I understand that the new South 40 is primarily intended to impress the money right out of Daddy’s wallet and into the chancellor’s lap, what I don’t understand is how the University can stand behind its off-campus housing situation.