Applications for Texas State’s Housing Lottery opened on Jan. 31, allowing current residents a chance to return to on-campus living next year.
According to an email sent by the Department of Housing and Residential Life (DHRL), signups for the Housing Lottery will close at 4 p.m. on Feb. 3. The next day, applicants will be randomly assigned “lottery numbers.” Those with the lowest lottery numbers will have the opportunity to sign a housing contract for an unoccupied dorm room for the following school year.
Because first-year students are required to live on campus, the DHRL must limit housing applications from other students so there is enough space for the next incoming class. Spots are limited and those who have already lived on campus are not allowed to sign up to live in the dorms again until later in the semester.
Andrew Hodge, an English junior, works as a residential assistant at Laurel Hall. Part of his job is to help current residents set up a plan for where they will live after their first year. According to Hodge, who has gone through the application process, the Housing Lottery gives students an equal chance if they’re wanting to live on campus.
“The reason why it exists is obviously because we don’t have enough housing for everyone who is interested in living here,” Hodge said. “What that means is there needs to be a method of deciding who’s going to live on campus that is fair and doesn’t advantage any group over another.”
For some students, dorm life is important due to its accessibility to campus. While the idea of an apartment is appealing to Collette Hickman, a Creative Writing and Religious Studies junior, she plans to live on campus for the rest of her college career.
“Well, I can’t drive, so it’s easier to walk,” Hickman said. “I appreciate being able to be like right on top of everything. It gets me to classes quicker and I’m more involved with things on campus. It’s kind of fun to have a little community.”
Because living on campus is a logistical necessity for some non-first-year students, Hickman would rather for freshmen to be able to opt-out of on-campus housing in order to free up more space for those who need it.
“A lot of freshmen look for alternative housing right off the bat,” Hickman said. “I feel like there’s a lot of freshmen who don’t want to live on campus, and I feel like there’s a lot of upperclassmen who do want to live on campus.”
On the other hand, some students who support freshmen being required to live on campus see dorm life as a vital part of the transition into adulthood. Isabella Afflixio, a theater education sophomore, appreciates that residence halls give a chance for students to live on their own for the first time while still having a community to support them.
“I have so many friends that like stayed home and like did school remotely, and they haven’t grown as people in the same way that you would grow when you have to live independently and meet new people on your own,” Afflixio said. “I’ve heard from every single student I’ve talked to [that] they’ve seen growth in themselves living in the dorms, and people that live at home can’t say the same.”
The Housing Lottery also provides a second chance for students who enrolled at Texas State in 2020, a time when much of the on-campus experience was limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Afflixio signed up for the Housing lottery with her freshman roommate after agreeing that they had not been able to experience the campus community to the degree they had hoped.
“A lot of opportunities were like squashed for freshmen last year,” Afflixio said. “With [campus] being completely open, living in the dorm again just makes everything so easy. Like I’ve already been able to go to so many more events that I know my friends that live in apartments like just aren’t going to because they’re not aware these events are happening.”
Students who wish to sign up for the housing lottery can do so by logging into Texas State’s Housing Portal.