CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Thousands of University of Illinois families arrived on campus Wednesday as students began moving into their dorms for the new academic year.
More than 6,000 students have moved into their new rooms so far; 250 of them will be placed in temporary housing.
“Temporary housing means students are paying half of the usual price,” stated University Housing Marketing Associate Director Christ Axtman-Barker. “These are converted study lounges with more students residing in them temporarily.”
Four to six students will be accommodated in each makeshift dorm room, which were formerly study lounges, for the near term. These rooms will be equipped with the same furniture as standard dorm rooms, including a bed, desk, and dresser.
Illinois Housing indicated that there is a strategy in place to determine where students will be relocated after their time in temporary spaces; this process will commence after the tenth day of classes.
“We conduct a count, verify attendance, and typically find that some students do not show up for various reasons,” noted Axtman-Barker. “This allows us to begin transitioning students from temporary housing into confirmed empty units.”
Housing mentioned there’s a long term plan to mitigate further housing shortages in the future.
“We are working on the construction of a new residence hall,” said Axtman-Barker.
Housing acknowledged that there isn’t a precise timeline for when students will transition out of temporary housing, though they do not anticipate any students remaining there for an entire semester.
They added they are working on architectural plans for the new residence hall, and don’t have a location yet.
