As the first week of classes come to an end, there are 106 students displaced as on-campus housing reaches maximum capacity for the second year in a row.
The incoming class of freshmen and transfer students is one of the largest seen in ETSU’s history. A combination of a large growth in enrollment and a lack of housing has left several students making their first memories of college life from a hotel room.
“I will say it’s a little nice because I get my own bathroom, shower, things like that,” said transfer student David Orihuela-Rico. “Only thing is that I don’t have anywhere to really just like settle down…I just have my clothes in a suitcase, I really can’t put [my clothes] in a drawer or anything like that.”
During the fall semester of 2022, 70 students were displaced as a result of housing reaching maximum capacity. The Department of Housing and Residence Life is handling this year’s situation the same as last year’s. The 106 students are divided among four different hotels throughout Johnson City, including the Carnegie Hotel, Hampton Inn, Fairfield Inn & Suites and the Holiday Inn of Johnson City.
“We had a record number of returning students back in the spring sign up for fall [housing],” said Dr. Bonnie Burchett, director of housing and residence life. “We had over 1,700 students [sign up] who were well over 50 percent of the amount of students we had on campus at that time.”
Dr. Burchett further explained that another factor leading to a housing overflow were the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the housing market in Johnson City continues to increase in demand, students are also having difficulties finding housing off-campus.
“Our new freshman and transfer [applicants] reached a record number,” said Dr. Burchett. “So, what all of that together, plus you know, the off-campus market is tighter–housing in Johnson City is tighter—so just a combination of those things lend itself to a demand for on-campus housing.”
Another issue with on-campus housing is the need for renovations in a few residence halls. Powell Hall was originally offline coming into this semester, but with the need for additional housing, the university deemed it necessary to stay online temporarily. Going into the spring semester of 2024, Powell will go offline for the necessary renovations.
Dr. Burchett said that on Monday, August 28, housing staff conducted a headcount of students living on-campus. As of Tuesday, August 29, the department will review the information from the headcount and find open spaces to move displaced students into. “We’ll gradually move the students out, each one as soon as we can,” she said.
Students that are displaced without personal transportation have access to a shuttle service provided by ETSU. The shuttle operates on a one-hour schedule from 7 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. For students like Orihuela-Rico, being displaced from campus presents many difficulties other than transportation. Having to leave a personal life behind without being guaranteed housing left him disappointed. Additionally, he was told he had to move into a hotel the night before his designated move-in time.
“It was a little stressful because I had just quit my job the week before,” said Orihuela-Rico. “I was like ‘man, that was a really good paying job,’…I could have stayed down in Hendersonville, [North Carolina,] and just done everything online.”
To contact the Department of Housing and Residence Life, email housing@etsu.edu or call (423) 439-4446. To contact Burchett, email bonnie@etsu.edu.
