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Students Head Back To University Campuses This Week

ISU Department of Housing
Rendition of ISU's new residence hall, scheduled to open for the Spring 2017 semester

Students at Iowa’s three public universities begin moving into residence halls this week and in some cases, there’s more demand for housing than there are rooms.  Iowa State University says it had to turn away many returning students who wanted on-campus housing to make sure it had enough room for freshmen students, who move in on Tuesday. When the housing application period opened up last spring, a limited number of spots for returning students filled quickly and the remaining students were wait-listed.

But, Lisa Ludoviko with the ISU Department of Residence says some spots have since opened up. Even this close to the start of the school year, she says students are jumping at the opportunity.

“Within the past 10 days we’ve probably had about 40 people come in to submit a housing contract, which is not what are trend would typically be, so we do definitely have people that are still out there and looking for housing,” she said last week.

ISU has experienced seven straight years of record enrollment and has struggled to keep up with the demand for university student housing.

ISU’s first new residence hall since 2003 will open for the Spring 2017 semester, but still won’t meet the demand for on-campus housing. 

The university currently leases apartments off-campus to house about 1,400 students.

“The new building that’s coming online is only going to be 784-spaces, so it will help us with about half of our capacity issues,” says Ludoviko.

She says there are currently no plans to further expand student housing on campus.

Students at the University of Northern Iowa begin moving into residence calls on Tuesday.  Move-in day for new students at the University of Iowa is Wednesday. Classes begin August 22nd.

Mary Khan is an ISU student and spent the summer as an intern reporter at IPR.