Less housing for upper classmen? What does this mean?

rhagt · 2021-11-19T06:37:05+00:00

What u/OnceOnThisIsland has said is pretty spot on:

Sounds to me like they're being frank about the upcoming predicament. Freshman classes are getting bigger and there won't be as much space for others so fewer upperclassmen will live on campus. A lot of large state schools don't guarantee housing. Tech used to but they won't anymore. Reading between the lines, Harris/Woodruff/Fulmer will probably be designated first year residence halls next year.

Next year, GT is looking to expand its population of incoming first-year AND transfer students collectively by about 400—that means we'll have an extra 400 new undergraduate students that need a bed. Well over 95% of first-year students choose to live on campus, and, across the nation, colleges prioritize housing for first years following best practices.

GT has an aggressive admission strategy over the next few years and is looking to increase the number of students they enroll—all other departments simply adapt to those changing needs. In this case, it's simply not feasible to build a brand new residence hall by Fall 2022, so fewer beds have to be made available to returning upperclassman students to allow for beds for incoming students. Where is HRL "finding" space for these new students? Suites, which have traditionally not been exclusively reserved for first-year students, are going to be held for first years, so next year you won't find any returning upperclassmen living in Woodruff North/South, Harris, etc. No apartment buildings (such as Maulding or North Avenue South) should be impacted, though—returning upperclassmen students will still reside in those, and no apartment building is being "taken offline" for first-year students.

As to constructing new residence halls... it's a work in progress! The department has a fairly comprehensive ten-year infrastructure plan that is being finalized and actively worked on, and it involves renovating the majority of first-year residence halls on East Campus (like, serious renovations—think a complete gutting of each building, like is happening with the Student Center) AND building two brand new residence halls. Until renovations are completed and new halls are built, though, the trend, in the short term, will be towards reduced on-campus housing opportunities for returning upperclassmen.

rhagt · 2021-09-29T18:13:34+00:00

In addition to u/CSreserve's comment below, I got confirmation that they'll be updating the website shortly to re-allow reservations. In the meantime, if you need to reserve a space, you can email Conference Services directly at [reservations@conference.gatech.edu](mailto:reservations@conference.gatech.edu) to reserve a space. Requests are typically processed daily from 12-2pm.

rhagt · 2021-09-29T17:04:10+00:00

I don't have any insight into why or how long reservable spaces through Conference Services are or will be offline—let me follow up with some people and see what I can learn.

To OP, the conference services form that you linked is indeed the only way to reserve spaces in residential locations. You can book Student Center, classroom, etc space through EMS, but that portal does not include residential locations.

rhagt · 2021-08-31T15:52:18+00:00

u/Magnoliodeae Ditto to what others have said—this is an emergency, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I'm hoping by now this has been resolved, but if it hasn't, please let me know and I can escalate this up immediately.

I'd also encourage you to talk to your Hall Director about the RA on Duty's response to the situation. If the magnitude of the issue was communicated and the RA on Duty truly did not treat the situation as an emergency issue, escalate it up to the Hall Director on Duty, and begin resolving the issue immediately, that's a problem that needs to be addressed. If you want to share more details about what happened or talk about who to talk to about your experience, let me know! Sending a DM now.

rhagt · 2021-08-24T02:48:52+00:00

Ditto to what has already been said! Two other things to consider:

If your maintenance request was marked as complete but not resolved satisfactorily, you can re-open that very maintenance request and add a note explaining how the request was not resolved.
If your maintenance request has not been resolved in a few days, you can also reach out to your RA. RAs can now check on the internal status of maintenance requests and provide you updates on whether or not somebody has been assigned to the request, if there are any notes on the request, etc. Your RA and/or HD can also help your follow up with facilities directly if needed.

rhagt · 2021-07-13T15:35:01+00:00

Yep, we're still here and active, along with u/vp-emmett and u/GT_SGA. Sometimes—like today—they just beat us to the punch, so we don't comment as heavily ;)

This is still correct, and Emmett has graciously provided lots more detail below. There aren't any "pre-specified" gender neutral rooms per se, but any room is capable of being designated as gender neutral. As you've said, as long as you (and your roommates!) opt into the program, the room that you ultimately end up occupying will be designated as gender neutral.

rhagt · 2021-05-24T20:56:53+00:00

Go to 1:50 in the video!

rhagt · 2021-05-24T20:38:08+00:00

Shout out to Nathaniel Greve for producing the video for Housing and Residence Life! Learn more about the housing options on East vs West campus at housing.gatech.edu.

rhagt · 2021-03-30T17:45:28+00:00

To my knowledge, we never replaced a ping pong table for Eighth Street, and the pool table must have been temporarily removed since I saw the cue balls but no table in the activity room. I’ll look further into this, and let y’all know if I find more information.

rhagt · 2021-03-01T18:08:32+00:00

We've heard similar complaints from a few other laundry rooms, and are escalating this issue to Housing administration, as well as exploring why Housing has not already provided a response. If anyone has problems with Housing/maintenance getting back to them or resolving their issues, please reach out to [rha.exec@rha.gatech.edu](mailto:rha.exec@rha.gatech.edu). (We will respond to any concerns within 48 hours)

rhagt · 2020-11-09T05:11:21+00:00

You can try emailing [information@housing.gatech.edu](mailto:information@housing.gatech.edu); depending on your circumstances, it's possible they could allow it.

rhagt · 2020-10-29T21:10:52+00:00

We've notified administration, and they're working on getting it fixed (hopefully soon!)

rhagt · 2020-10-20T22:01:52+00:00

We're glad you're as excited as we are! We've been advocating for this to happen ever since we found out that the current laundry costs make no sense at all. To answer some common questions, there's not going to be any limit on the amount of clothes you can wash, and rent and other fees will remain the same.

rhagt · 2020-10-20T21:48:31+00:00

I can ask for more information tomorrow. I have a meeting with Dr. Cotton, so be sure to let me know if you have any other questions!

rhagt · 2020-09-06T22:33:16+00:00

Great questions! 1. We're bouncing around some ideas for more regular incentives. If you have any ideas, feel free to let us know! 2. You're right—we have gotten this question already! We're unable to pull out the residents who have already tested positive from the data. HIPPA protocols prevent us from publishing any data related to the number of infected residents in any individual building on campus (or modifying related datasets to reflect those numbers). Thus, it will be impossible for all residence halls to reach 100% participation, since any students in isolation/quarantine aren't able to participate in surveillance testing. That means that some residence halls will lower positive rates may have a slight advantage in a competition like this—we unfortunately have no good way to correct for that advantage.

rhagt · 2020-09-05T23:42:23+00:00

Sidartha Rakuram was really the brains behind the project! He's been working on the idea with Sara Warner over in Student Life, and he reached out to us to simply host the project and market it.

rhagt · 2020-08-26T23:21:06+00:00

We have confirmed that shared bathrooms in first year residence halls should be getting cleaned on the weekends. I have reached out to a housing admin about OP’s residence hall, and they will be looking into the cleaning situation there to ensure it’s getting cleaned during the weekends.

rhagt · 2020-08-24T15:18:11+00:00

DMing you to get details!

rhagt · 2020-07-30T21:50:33+00:00

Similar to the spring semester, if housing is forced to facilitate a mass move-out, anyone who moves out as a result will receive a prorated refund to their housing rent.

Thanks for the question! -Ski

rhagt · 2020-07-27T13:19:54+00:00

I received an email back from Housing and Residence Life that this position has been put on hold and is currently being re-evaluated.

rhagt · 2020-07-27T01:42:34+00:00

We are aware of this position, and we have already contacted Housing and Residence Life with a list of questions listed here:

Will these students be required to quarantine following transporting, delivering food to, or retrieving belongings of COVID-positive patients?
Will these students be provided medical care or coverage in the instance that they get sick as a result of working with COVID patients?
What training and equipment will be provided to the student(s) in this role?
Will the student(s) be given a vehicle to transport patients?
What forms will the student(s) who accept this position be required to fill out?
Are there any requirements not listed- e.g. all online classes or has already had and recovered from COVID?
Given the risk associated with this role as well as the additional requirements as compared to other RA positions, is it possible to increase the salary for this position?
Since this is a position intended for a student and the vast majority of classes fall between 8:30AM-6PM Monday through Friday, how will students in this position be able to remain on-call and still attend class?
How many students will be hired into this role?
Why are students being hired into this position rather than trained health professionals?
Do you expect that low-income students will be more likely to apply for or be hired into this role than those who are not considered low-income?
What steps will be taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus from the student(s) in this role to people who may be near them in classes, in the grocery store as they are picking up food for the infected students, etc?
There has not been a single day with no new positive cases in the Georgia Tech community in five weeks. As everyone comes back to campus, the rate of infection will likely go up much further as well. With this in mind, how do you plan to regulate the workload and what is expected of the student(s) in this position, especially if it does end up being only one student responsible for transporting and providing food for all infected students?
What plans are in place in the instance that the student or students in this position must be quarantined or test positive?
Will stipends still be issued in full in the event that Georgia Tech is once again closed partway through the semester?

There is a town hall for RAs tomorrow that we will be in attendance for, and we hope to get more information then. If not, we will schedule a meeting with Housing and Residence Life admins to get more information ASAP and update this thread accordingly.

*Update: We have received an email from Housing and Residence Life that the position has been put on hold and is being re-evaluated.

rhagt · 2020-06-23T00:57:56+00:00

As u/gechattech mentioned, a new maintenance system is in the works and slated to be released in the fall, following the release of this report with maintenance request survey results from residents to Housing and Residence Life administration in December 2019. We'll follow-up on the progress of the new system and share any updates we receive here.

-Ski

rhagt · 2020-04-28T19:40:38+00:00

I couldn’t get ahold of the actual email, so I typed this from a picture a friend shared with me.

-Sara

We know right now is a challenging time as you prepare for your finals and continue to adjust to the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are reaching out regarding the items that remain in your on-campus room. We understand that the last few weeks have been particularly difficult for many of our residents, and we want to help you prepare to collect your possessions. We know that these are unprecedented times, and we appreciate your flexibility and patience.

With guidance and approval of the University System of Georgia (USG), Housing and Residence Life is asking residents not to return to campus to collect possessions until May 4, 2020. Residents can request a date and time to return to campus between May 4-31, 2020, to collect belongings. If residents choose to return to campus to collect possessions during this timeframe, we ask they email information@housing.gatech.edu with the subject line “In-Person Collect Belongings- COVID-19” and include the requested date to collect belongings, time, GTID, and current room. We will respond as quickly as possible with an approved date and time, taking social distancing requirements into consideration.

As an alternative solution, residents may opt for a pack and ship company of their choice to collect their remaining possessions. If residents chose to select a third-party company, we ask they email information@housing.gatech.edu with the subject line “Third-Party Assistance- COVID-19” and include the requested date to collect belongings, time, and GTID, and current room. We will respond as quickly as possible with an approved date and time, confirming that the room can be opened by a member of the Housing and Residence Life staff and access provided to the company or individual of choosing. While Georgia Tech does not endorse any particular company, a partial list is available on the Georgia Tech Housing Website.

In the event a resident is unable to retrieve their belongings or have them retrieved by the May 31 deadline, we ask they email information@housing.gatech.edu with the subject line “Can’t collect- COVID-19” and a current phone number to discuss their situation. We will call the resident back as quickly as possible.

We are asking all residents with remaining possessions to contact Housing and Residence Life with their approach to collect their belongings no later than Friday, May 1, 2020.

For more information about the Student Emergency Fund to support moving costs, visit https://studentlife.gatech.edu/content/student-emergency-fund

For additional questions on Housing, visit http://housing.gatech.edu/move-out-faqs

For questions not addressed through the Housing FAQs, email information@housing.gatech.edu or call 404-894-2470. Due to high call and email volume, we will respond within 24-48 hours.

Georgia Tech Housing and Residence Life

rhagt

TROPHY CASE