About 900 undergraduates will live on campus in fall
208 of 232 first year, sophomore, junior requests to live on campus approved through SHARP
Approximately 900 undergraduates — about 700 seniors and 200 first years, sophomores, and juniors — plan to live on campus in the fall. All undergraduate dorms except Burton-Conner will be open in the fall.
MIT Housing and Residential Services (HRS) released Fall 2020 building assignments July 30.
HRS Communications Manager Zachary Tsetsos wrote in an email to The Tech that the “approximately 700 seniors who applied for housing” were all given on-campus building assignments. The 208 first years, sophomores, and juniors approved to live on campus through the Student Housing Assistance Review Process (SHARP) have also received building assignments.
According to the SHARP website, 290 students applied to SHARP: 232 first years, sophomores, and juniors who wished to live on-campus this fall, and 58 “students, including seniors, who are experiencing significant hardship” and “believe they absolutely cannot live at home [or] on campus.” The SHARP application closed July 28.
Of the 232 requests for on-campus housing, 208 were approved. Four of those students acquired approval through appeal.
Of the students approved through SHARP, 11% were first-years, 44% were sophomores, and 45% were juniors, according to a SHARP presentation emailed to The Tech from Division of Student Life Senior Associate Dean David Randall.
24 students, including 12 incoming first years, “did not meet” SHARP guidelines and were denied, according to the presentation. Among the denied students were six incoming international students who are unable to travel to the U.S. due to new visa rules.
Eligibility criteria outlined on SHARP’s website include “students currently in short-term arrangements or on-campus emergency housing who cannot return home due to travel restrictions, circumstances in their home state/country, or circumstances of their home life”; “students who have home environments that significantly impair remote learning”; and “students who have no other place to live or for whom being at home would be unsafe given the circumstances of their country or home life.”
Incoming first year students were not considered for on-campus housing “except in cases of significant hardship,” according to the website.
Students approved to live on-campus through SHARP will have their financial aid adjusted to reflect on-campus housing and dining rates.
The other 58 requests for SHARP assistance were off-campus hardship requests. Randall wrote in an email to The Tech that SHARP is “still working on these requests” and “are in direct touch with each student.”
“In many cases, we are consulting with Student Financial Services or Disability Access Services so that we can arrive at personalized solutions that best address the unique circumstances of each student,” Randall wrote.
Students who plan to live on campus were given the option to form groups with up to five other students. Groups will be ensured assignment to the same residence hall; group requests are separate from the residential “pods” that will be implemented within residence halls. Tsetsos wrote that 698 students requested group selection and formed 167 groups.
“While we are operating at a significantly lower density this fall, we are able to accommodate all students approved to be on campus” among the nine residence halls “that will be operating for the fall semester,” Tsetsos wrote.