With hundreds on the waitlist, FAMU responds to freshman housing crunch with financial aid

Florida A&M University’s on-campus housing reaching full capacity ahead of next month's move-in dates drew concerns and complaints from many first time in college students and their parents – a problem the university could not leave unresolved.

With the start of the fall semester less than two months away, FAMU President Larry Robinson announced a plan Friday he hopes will be successful in addressing the issue.

This week, 506 incoming freshmen were told all available beds on campus were already taken and they would have to find off-campus housing on their own. This sparked a backlash of calls from parents to the university and scathing posts on social media critical of the disruption in plans.

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Robinson's plan involves assisting each of the 506 freshmen with $2,000 for the fall semester and $2,000 for the spring semester, to cover off-campus housing rent. The money comes from federal funding the university tucked away for such student-related emergencies.

In addition to the housing assistance, the students would also be eligible for an on-campus Gold 400 meal plan for the school year worth $5,716.

The housing waitlist consists of more than just incoming freshmen. The university will also assist the first 200 transfer students who are eligible for the financial assitance. The eligibility requirement is to either have an associate's degree or fewer than 60 credit hours.

“I hope this initiative sends a strong message to students and their parents that we really want them to attend this university, and if they are struggling with the financial piece, we think this infusion of support will go a long way in helping them address that,” Robinson said during a news conference at Lee Hall on Friday.

Students who are under the age of 18 as well as students with disabilities will be given priority when being assisted through the plan.

Brian Fisher of Orlando is one of the concerned parents who has been trying to reach University Housing this week, he says, with no success. With his 18-year-old daughter Chloe Fisher being an incoming freshman with nowhere to stay in the fall, he’s frustrated and frantic about the situation.

“This is not what we were anticipating,” Brian Fisher said during an interview with the Democrat this week. "My daughter just turned 18, so that’s not exactly the experience I wanted her to have.”

Chloe Fisher is currently in FAMU’s Access Summer Bridge program, which helps underrepresented students who did not meet the admission criteria to catch up on courses this summer to be academically eligible to enter this fall. Although Fisher currently lives on campus for the duration of the program, she's one of the freshmen on the housing waitlist for the fall.

“This wasn’t necessarily the picture that FAMU painted this summer when we went to orientation,” Brian Fisher said. “It would’ve been courteous and transparent of them to say they could potentially have a housing issue in the fall.”

Appealing to upperclassmen to help out freshmen

The university began to see beds filling up at the end of June, Office of University Housing Director Jennifer Wilder said Friday. The university had 2,450 on-campus beds available.

"The minute we noticed it, we alerted the appropriate people that we were going to be out of space," Wilder said of reaching out to parents and students.

FAMU also is offering the financial incentives to upperclassmen who are willing to give up their on campus beds to move off campus and provide a space for freshmen.

The first 400 sophomores, juniors and seniors who choose to withdraw from on-campus housing will be eligible for the funding package, as long as they are students without scholarships.

Any student on the waitlist who is unable to receive assistance for housing by the start of the fall semester will get a full refund for their housing deposit, which was $200.

Looking into the future

The demand for on-campus housing is in direct correlation to a surge in first-year students and transfer students accepted for the fall. A total of 2,979 first-time-in-college students have been admitted to FAMU this year compared to 2,185 in fall 2021, Hudson said.

FAMU also has admitted 732 transfer students this fall compared to 616 last fall.

Looking ahead, the university's long-term goals include building new residence halls, Hudson said, but no firm timelines have been established.

NEED HELP? 

FAMU's Office of Housing has partnered with the apartment listing platform apartments.com to assist students who are looking for off-campus housing. Listings can be found using this link: https://offcampushousing.famu.edu/ 

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU plan helps students seeking on-campus housing