135 undergraduates cancel on-campus housing assignments
784 undergraduates, 1,408 graduate students, and 331 family members of graduate students will live on campus Fall 2020.
Of the undergraduates living on campus, 613 are seniors, 21 are first years, 78 are sophomores, and 72 are juniors.
MIT Housing and Residential Services estimated early August that about 900 undergraduates (700 seniors and 200 non-seniors) would live on campus in the fall. However, 135 undergraduates (101 seniors, 18 sophomores, and 16 juniors) canceled their on-housing campus housing assignments, HRS Communications Manager Zachary Tsetsos wrote in an email to The Tech Aug. 30.
Over 90% of the undergraduates who canceled on-campus housing cited “taking remote classes this semester” as the primary reason for the cancellation, Tsetsos wrote. The other 10% canceled due to leaves of absence or withdrawals, travel restrictions, or visa issues.
Maseeh, Simmons, and New House will house the largest number of undergraduates at 174, 169, and 117 students respectively, between one third and half of their normal capacities. Baker will house 87 undergraduates, about one quarter of its normal capacity. East Campus, MacGregor, McCormick, Next, and Random will each house roughly one fifth or less of their normal capacities.
Burton Conner is the only dorm closed for undergraduate housing in the fall.
Tsetsos wrote that Burton Conner, which can “accommodate up to 180 occupants,” will “serve as a centralized support residence during the Fall 2020 semester.” It will primarily be “utilized by MIT Medical and staff across the Division of Student Life” to support those who “test positive for Covid-19 and must self-isolate” or “require a temporary accommodation for self-quarantine purposes.”