Columbia will secure additional housing to accommodate all students who were left without on-campus assignments after rooms quickly filled during this year’s selection process.

Senior Vice President of Enrollment Strategy and Student Success Emmanuel Lalande told the Chronicle in an interview on Wednesday, April 8 that all students who have applied for housing for the 2026-27 academic year will have a place to live in on-campus housing.

“Any continuing or new student in need of housing will be accommodated,” Lalande said. “If they request housing, we’ll be able to accommodate.”

He said the college has been negotiating short-term housing leases since January and had always planned to offer housing to everyone who needed it.

About 220 to 240 returning students are currently waitlisted, according to the college, ahead of applications for incoming students, which opened today.

“It’s a small population who are waitlisted, and that is temporary,” said Lambrini Lukidis, associate vice president of strategic communications and external relations. “I would say, by and large, the amount of students who signed up have already been accommodated, and everyone will be.”

The waitlist formed after on-campus housing filled within two days of general room selection opening last week, as the Chronicle previously reported.

“We knew there would be a waiting list for students,” Lalande said. “We needed the wait list to make sure that we have the right amount of beds. Because of where we are financially, we want to make sure we don’t have excess beds.”

The college decided earlier this year not to renew its lease with Dwight Lofts or The Arc at the Old Colony after the spring 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.

Ladawn Gordon, a sophomore creative writing major, is leasing an apartment independently at 30 E. Balbo Dr. after she was notified that Columbia’s on-campus housing had been filled before her room selection time slot arrived.

“By the time I tried to apply for housing, it was all filled up. So I was pretty disappointed,” Gordon said. “That’s when I said, ‘you know what? I’ll stay at 30 East, but I’ll get an actual apartment there.’ So, I got the lease and everything. I just have to cancel student housing.”

Gordon said she was unsure how the college will be able to cram students into 30 East and the University Center.

“A place is getting constructed next to 30 East. If it’s a new apartment, that’s good because more students can live there,” she said.

The 626 on The Park apartment complex is scheduled to open on Aug. 1. This apartment is not currently associated with any college, but it will allow college students to lease out rooms.

“That means there could be more rooms, so people won’t be on the waiting list,” Gordon said.

The management at the Arc, which will be unaffiliated with Columbia in the fall, sent a message to residents on Monday, April 6 with the subject line: “housing portal giving you trouble?”

“So the Columbia housing portal didn’t go as planned? We feel you,” the email read, adding that its fully furnished room options had “no stress, no chaos, just a place to live with people you want to live with.”

Zadyn Higgins, a sophomore journalism and communication major who lives at the Dwight, said it is also recruiting students who were waitlisted for Columbia’s on-campus housing.

“The Dwight is actively trying to get people to live here.” Higgins said. “If the college would just lease out like a few floors, why not?”’

Lalande said that announcements about additional on-campus housing and room selection can be expected by next week.

He said the college is looking at nearby properties that are safe, affordable and within walking distance of campus.

“We don’t want to go up on our prices and pass that cost to students,” Lalande said.

He cautioned that not all students who want gender inclusive housing may get that choice.

“We just want to make sure that we can accommodate all requests before circling back to those individuals who want gender inclusive housing,” Lalande said. “Once we have those additional beds, we’ll be able to be a little bit more specific on how many of those will be gender inclusive.”

While early housing emails noted that availability was limited, they did not clearly indicate how quickly rooms could fill or how many spaces were available. Waitlist details were not explicitly communicated until after room selection was underway, and students told the Chronicle they got conflicting information about whether waitlisted students would get a spot.

“The lack of timeliness in their communication has been a big frustration for me,” said Charlotte Johnson, a junior music business major.

Johnson said she was able to get housing at 30 E. Balbo Dr. and was not waitlisted.

Lalande acknowledged the college could have communicated more clearly.

“I think we could do better with the language,” he said.

SGA Executive Vice President Amelia Lutz said student response is a reflection of the uncertainty they are feeling, and that there is always room for improvement when it comes to transparent and straightforward communication.

“We’ve had a lot of change over the last couple of years, and that’s really scary to a lot of students,” said the junior film and television student. “At the end of the day, it’s up to the administration to communicate these things and to talk with the student body.”

Housing applications for new students opened today. The college reserved 40% of the beds in the existing two dorms for them, according to a statement the college gave to the Chronicle on Tuesday, April 7.

About 60% of new students live on campus, Lalande said. 

The college is expecting an increase in new students in the fall, citing higher deposits this spring compared to previous years.

The application process for new students happened earlier this year, Lalande said. “We pushed it up because of where we are, to make sure that we can accommodate students,” 

Additional reporting by Katie Peters, Allison Shelton and Marc Balbarin.

This story has been updated to include a comment from SGA Executive Vice President Amelia Lutz.

Copy edited by Venus Tapang

Resumen en español

Columbia conseguirá viviendas adicionales para acomodar a los estudiantes que no pudieron obtener residencia en el campus después de que las habitaciones se llenaron enseguida durante el proceso de selección este año.

El vicepresidente sénior de estrategia de matriculación y éxito académico Emmanuel Lalande dijo que la universidad ha estado negociando contratos de vivienda de corto plazo desde enero. Desde un principio se planeó ofrecer vivienda a los estudiantes que lo necesitaran. 

Según la universidad, entre 200 y 240 estudiantes estaban en la lista de espera antes de que se abrieran las solicitudes para futuros estudiantes, que han comenzado hoy.

Resumen por Guadalupe Loza-Sanchez

Editado por Brandon Anaya