With a continuously rising enrollment rate, Kennesaw State’s upperclassmen struggle with on-campus housing waitlists for the upcoming school year.
According to Chris Bruno, deputy executive director of Housing and Residence Life, there are several hundred students currently on the waitlists for upperclassmen housing for the Fall semester. Though the university is working to expand selections for students, students on the current waitlist are placed into available housing in the order of their waitlist placement. Housing becomes available when another student cancels their booking for a residence hall.
“Effective in Fall 2022, Housing and Residence Life added an additional 551 beds to the Kennesaw Campus by converting KSU Place from First-Year housing to Upper-Class housing,” Bruno said. “Housing and Residence Life is in the process of updating its master plan, which may include new construction for future housing and renovations of existing communities at KSU.”
In Spring 2022, the university removed the option for upperclassmen to select their roommates.
“Upper Class renewals often result in units with only one available bed remaining for Upper Class students to choose from. In past years, students had to delay their search for a room to break apart from their roommate group, which could prevent them from selecting a room on time,” Bruno said. “Ultimately, Housing and Residence Life made this decision to improve the customer experience for Upper-Class students wishing to live on campus.”
Time tickets for roommate and room selection are issued based on when students complete the first step of the Housing Application and sign the License Agreement. According to Bruno, the Housing Application has been open to upper-class students since Jan. 11.
Classification for upperclassmen is sophomores and up, so the housing becomes extremely competitive. On-campus housing is in high demand for its proximity benefits for students.
“As someone who studies, goes to class, works and spends time with friends almost all day every day on campus, it would be much more convenient for me to live here as well,” student Lukas Weltlich said.
Most upperclassmen do not get to experience these advantages because of the low availability of housing. Many try to apply for housing but end up on multiple waitlists.
“For the Kennesaw campus, I’m number 99, but I considered putting myself on the waitlist for the Marietta campus because I would be number 78,” Weltlich said.
Upperclassmen communities on the Kennesaw campus include the Austin Residence Complex and KSU Place. On the Marietta Campus, the options for upperclassmen are University Columns, University Commons, and University Courtyard. On both campuses, residence halls are apartment-style complexes.
In August 2022, the university opened The Summit to increase freshman dorm options. The five-story building added 500 new housing placements for students, according to the university.
