Dorm Room Shortage Causing Chaos at University of Utah

“It’s just been a nightmare”

Posted by Mike LaChance Thursday, August 8, 2024 at 02:00pm 1 Comment

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Imagine driving a long distance to move your kid into college and finding out there’s no room for them. Who can blame parents for being angry?

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

‘They need to do better’: Parents frustrated over University of Utah dorm chaos

The University of Utah had guaranteed Anna Smith that her son would have a dorm room when they filled out the application in May. But now, with the first day of school less than two weeks away, his name is still on a waitlist — and she’s afraid the promise won’t be kept.

The family lives hundreds of miles away in Montana, which limits their options. Smith said she doesn’t know if she should book a hotel room here for her son, bring a tent or cross her fingers.

“It’s just been a nightmare,” she said.

Currently, the U.’s housing staff is telling her that it’s possible her son — a freshman — won’t be assigned a room until the same day the semester starts, on Aug. 19. Smith said they’ve advised her to drive down that day with the hope they’ll be able to find a place for him.

“At this point, my guarantee is if I come to Utah without a housing assignment, that he’ll likely have one,” she said. “How do I even plan for that? How is he supposed to get moved in that day and also to his classes on time? And what if there isn’t a room available?”

Smith isn’t the only parent stuck in the uncertainty caused by the U.’s messy freshman housing rollout this year. And it’s not the first time it’s happened either.

It’s part of a pattern of chaos repeated the last few years at the flagship school over dorm assignments. But it seems to have gotten worse this fall with the shortage of rooms butting so close to the start of the semester.

And it comes at the same time as the U. has been pushing for more and more first-year students to live on campus.

Moms and dads from across the country have been commenting in a University of Utah parents group on Facebook, stressing that their kids are similarly without a housing assignment after they were also promised a room. Many have said they’ve canceled plane tickets because of the situation, not knowing now when they’ll need to be there to help their kid move in. Some have been questioning if they should even come to the university at all.