Opening new dorms would be beneficial for all students at St. Edward’s University.

Many students are denied on-campus housing each year because of the high demand for it. This forces students to search for affordable housing close to St. Edward’s, a difficult task considering it seems like everyone in the world wants to live in Austin.

Many underclassmen are either out of state or international students. It’s hard for them to coordinate living arrangements if they are spending their summers out of Austin. They either have to organize their housing months in advance or try to snag one of the coveted on-campus housing units.

Having new dorms would allow the school to designate and space the demand of on-campus housing better than it has.

If new housing isn’t an option for St. Edward’s, the school should cap the enrollment of undergraduates. If it can’t provide basic necessities for students now, it shouldn’t add to the problem by over-admitting students it can’t support with housing.

However, this option would decrease the acceptance rate, which might dissuade many from applying, as they may believe that they would not be able to get in.

Another option for the university would be to buy the apartment neighborhoods around the school and rent them to St. Edward’s students only. This way, students could live close to the campus, and the university would not have to undergo construction on campus.

If none of these options are feasible, St. Edward’s should at least educate students about the best off-campus places to live. The university does not do this, nor does it make information about upperclassmen on-campus housing very accessible.

As a current freshman, I personally have not heard anything about how to sign up for Fall 2015 housing, but I already know that getting on-campus housing is a slim chance and I should plan ahead to live off-campus. Still, I have no knowledge about different housing options or prices.

While housing information provided during freshman orientation was very helpful, students are pretty much left to figure out housing for themselves in the following years. Informational sessions for freshmen thinking about living on campus during their upperclassmen years would be highly beneficial. They would eliminate confusion and provide security to students worried about housing.

A friend of mine who is currently a sophomore states that freshman do in fact get notified by an email during the spring semester. However, this email is literally only a timelog of when to apply, so it can very easily be overlooked. I feel that St. Edward’s should create a smoother and more efficient system regarding student housing.