Columbia has finalized a one-year agreement with the 16-story Dwight Lofts for an additional six floors of student housing for the Fall 2026 semester.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Senior Vice President of Enrollment Strategy and Student Success Emmanuel Lalande said the deal will accommodate all students currently on the housing waitlist, as well as incoming students.
The college decided earlier this year to not renew its leases with Dwight Lofts or The Arc at the Old Colony after this semester, citing declining enrollment and financial concerns. That left two available dorm options, 30 E. Balbo Dr. and the University Center at 525 S. State St., which Columbia shares with DePaul University and Roosevelt University.
But within two days of general housing room selection for the remaining buildings opening in early April, all 550 beds reserved for continuing students were taken, the Chronicle previously reported.
About 220 to 240 returning students were waitlisted.
After frustrated students and parents complained, the college pledged that all waitlisted students would have housing, saying it had already been negotiating for more space.
Room selection for the Dwight Lofts will open on Monday, May 4. Selection hours will be from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Students will receive their selection times by email. This includes students on the gender-inclusive waitlist.
“For those who are not — who did not ask for the gender-inclusive housing, we’re making sure that we accommodate those individuals, and then circle back to make sure that we can accommodate the gender inclusive,” Lalande told the Chronicle.
First-year film and television student Taryn Marek, who is on the housing waitlist, said she appreciated the opportunity to get a housing assignment but didn’t like the process.
“They only gave us our registration times like three days before we’re supposed to be registering, and we don’t have much time,” to consider the prices or room options, Marek said. “It just felt very rushed and unclear.”
Margarete Noonan, a junior English major who currently lives in the UC, said being on the waitlist has been stressful.
“It would have been better to know my true housing options when I actually signed the housing contract,” she said. “It seems like that just didn’t matter, and I don’t know why the admin still insisted on it when they did not have the housing infrastructure to support it.”
President and CEO Shantay Bolton told students in an email sent Friday, May 1 that the college also was finalizing the renewal of the University Center lease.
“These decisions are being made with two priorities in mind: ensuring the long-term financial health of the institution and supporting the needs and experiences of our students,” she said.
Last fall, 1,438 of the 2,172 beds available in Columbia’s four on-campus housing buildings were occupied, and this spring that number declined to 1,351, resulting in about a 62% occupancy rate, Bolton said. That cost the college $6 million this year.
“This is not sustainable at a time when every resource must be aligned to support our students, faculty and long-term institutional strength,” she said in the email. “It also impacts the student experience, as partially filled buildings can make it more difficult to foster the sense of community that residential life is intended to provide.”
Oshun Cortez, the Latino Alliance’s representative for the Student Organizational Council, said that dorm rates are not always competitive.
“Students are finding other spaces to live because of how much cheaper it is to live in an apartment away from downtown rather than spend what seems like a four-month down payment.”
Lalande said the cost of living in The Dwight will not increase.
“We understand the frustration and the confusion. We will continue to be as transparent and bring as much clarity to this unfortunate challenge that we’re in,” said Lalande.
Copy edited by Venus Tapang
