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“Communication, communication, communication.”
That’s what South Carolina State University Assistant Director of Residence Life and Housing Jennifer Gamble Townsend believes is the key to ensuring the university avoids the housing crunch it experienced last fall.
“We have done an excellent job of putting systems in place to communicate to our residents,” said Gamble Townsend. One of those wrinkles is a new housing management system called Odyssey, which allows students to go online and select their housing preferences.
Dr. Valerie Fields, interim vice president for student services, says S.C. State has a very unique challenge to provide housing accommodations to more than 50 percent of its student body.
The university’s 10 residence housing communities will be home to approximately 2,600 students next fall.
“I think that at this juncture a lot of our students are very enthusiastic about Hugine Suites,” Fields said.
Hugine Suites is an upperclassmen apartment-style complex on campus that is laden with amenities such as individuals rooms, a gym and recreational facility. “Everybody wants to live there,” Fields said.
She points out that not every S.C. State student can live at Hugine Suites, since it can house only 750. However, Fields said all residential halls will provide a meaningful living and learning environment with similar amenities.
To that end, the university has constructed a new learning center in Battiste Hall, complete with a computer lab, conference table and an ornately decorated sitting area. In Truth Hall, a new pizzeria was recently opened.
While S.C. State experienced a record enrollment last fall, the university did not have enough housing to accommodate the unprecedented number of students.
Gamble Townsend said that when her office sat down to assess why last fall’s housing crunch occurred, it found a lack of communication was the largest factor. The other piece is that some students did not fulfill their financial obligations to the university in terms of housing, she said.
The focus for this fall became communicating to students what needed to be done to successfully obtain a residence hall assignment.
Starting last February, the residential life and housing office passed out flyers announcing when room deposits were due and the date of the room lottery. Meetings were also held at every residence hall on campus to discuss the matter.
The use of campus e-mail accounts to notify students of important housing information and dates was a critical component as well, Gamble Townsend said.
Following the housing lottery in May, students were given several days to make their housing selections via the Odyssey program.
“When students encountered some idiosyncrasies with the new software, we were able to adjust it,” she said. Gamble Townsend noted that staff at the university’s residential life and housing office have been and will continue to be available to answer questions.
Students are being asked to confirm their housing assignment by July 15 and pay fees associated with housing by the end of the month.
“We’ve done an excellent job and should be able to go forward in the fall. I feel strongly we should be able to do that without any hesitation or pitfalls,” Fields said.
n T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com and 803-534-1060. Discuss this and other stories online at www.TheTandD.com.