This semester, students were placed in the Sheraton Suites in addition to those already being housed off campus at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel. Students were assigned to the Sheraton Suites once capacity in the Howard Johnson was exceeded.
There is one floor of 45 residents, two resident assistants, a head resident and an assistant director at the Sheraton Suites. At the Howard Johnson, they originally planned to have seven floors with 14 resident assistants, but now there are 530 residents living on 10 floors, 20 resident assistants, a head resident and an area coordinator.
Although it may seem that the reason capacity was exceeded is because more students were admitted into the university, that doesn’t seem to be the case, according to Associate Dean of Students, Krystal R. Schofield.
“Admissions actually admitted six percent less this year,” said Schofield. “Overall, our freshman class will only be between two to three percent larger than last year after drop/add [week].”
She believes that offering new student housing accommodations and not asking them to be on a wait-list for housing is beneficial.
“Residents in all of our halls are provided with the tools and resources to have a positive residential experience. We held two of the four Week of Welcome events in our overflow hotels,” she said. “Like all residence halls, some students are experiencing adjustment issues, and we have assisted those students in getting connected to their RA or the Health and Wellness Center when necessary.”
UT freshman Ashley Conley agrees with Schofield. “They’ve done a good job of integrating people here. There’s been a pool party and Zumba class and we go to campus and hang out like we live there.”
Although living at the hotel may seem to be quite comfortable for some, riding the shuttle and having to take all of their supplies with them while commuting seems to be frustrating for others.
“The rooms are good and you get queen sized beds and a couch,” said UT freshman Chris Hanson. “It just sucks relying on the shuttle because it’s usually late.”
Hanson went on to say that 50 percent of the time the shuttle is not on time. “If you forget something, you can’t come back and you can’t switch out your books.”
As housing is assigned in order to application, the overflow was assigned to the Sheraton Suites after all on-campus housing and Howard Johnson housing was filled. The hotel is four miles away from campus and according to the UT website, it’s only temporary.
More information about the housing at the Sheraton Suites housing can be found at http://www.ut.edu/uploadedFiles/Campus_Life/Residence_Life/Residence_Hall_Room_Tours/SheratonHotel.pdf.
Shivani Kanji can be reached at shivani.kanji@spartans.ut.edu.