Almost 400 students hoping to live in the residence hall system next fall are still waiting for news on the status of their new homes. Although students have been guaranteed a place to live, several new students have yet to learn where exactly that will be.

Due in part to the closing of Maple Hall, 209 females and 176 males who have signed contracts with the Department of Residence had not been assigned rooms as of July 2.

“We anticipated that it would be tight because of Maple Hall closing,” said Randy Alexander, director of residence.

David Popelka, assistant director of business operation for the Department of Residence, said more students are expected to seek housing in the residence halls. Based on trends from previous years, Popelka said he expected about 119 men and 102 women to sign contracts between now and the end of August.

Contracts from freshmen women and all incoming men are still being accepted, but Alexander said the department was recommending that upper-class female transfer students look beyond the residence halls.

“We have been telling [them] that we have a long waiting list, and we would advise them to look for other housing,” he said.

This year’s numbers are drastically higher than the number of students not assigned to permanent housing in the fall of 1997. Alexander said 40 women lived in temporary housing last fall.

Approximately 80 women and 40 men were originally on last year’s waiting list to be assigned, but Alexander said the numbers on the list are seldom an accurate representation of how many students actually end up living in temporary housing.

“There are a lot of folks on the waiting list at some point who never spend a day in temporary housing,” he said. “We always start the semester with all these names in slots, and some of these people don’t show up.” Alexander said there are more male no-shows than female no-shows.

When room assignments began, almost all of the students without permanent housing were women, Alexander said. The Department of Residence changed some co-ed floors in the Towers Residence Association and made them all-female floors. Popelka said spaces are currently being held for athletes and students in special academic programs. These spaces, 156 for men and 93 for women, are being held for students in these programs but are currently not filled.

“We’re working with the departments that have those spaces to get them identified with people who would be incoming students, or to get them released,” Popelka said.

He said most of the holds should be released by July 15. The Department of Residence will contact students who have not received room assignments next week, and will mail them

an assignment by the first week of August.

“We’ve just been stalling as long as possible so we can actually get these students into a permanent place,” Popelka said.

Although cancellations are coming in throughout the summer, several students will still be placed in temporary housing when they arrive to ISU in the fall. Popelka said students will be placed in floor dens.

“The numbers are high enough [at the most recent count] that we’ll probably set up every single den we’ve got [as a student residence],” he said.

Popelka said they may not use as many spaces for men.

Alexander said students were moved out of temporary housing into permanent room assignments last year within a few weeks, but the process could take much longer this year.

“The last projection we made was that we could have some women in temporary housing until Thanksgiving,” Alexander said.