In a change from previous years, Robert Morris University will not be providing summer housing in the apartments on campus, and students who planned to use the free residency are confused and upset about the changes.

On April 4, 2017, Residence Life sent out an email to RMU students about the changes to summer housing, stating that Lexington Hall, Concord Hall and Salem Hall would not be available to students for summer residency. The options provided for free housing this summer will be Yorktown Hall and the traditional-style dorms on the main campus.

“If we allow students to stay in summer housing, which would typically be apartments, people would be in the apartments of which students are moving into for their fall assignment in which they’re paying for,” said Ashley Haney, assistant director of the Office of Residence Life.

The academic schedule interferes with both the start and the end of the summer housing period. Early-arriving students begin entering campus on Aug. 1, while summer housing ends on Aug. 18.

“Typically, our summer housing is in the apartments,” said Haney. “And every year, it gets a little tighter to accommodate, because the class schedule starts earlier than summer housing starts and ends later than summer housing.”

Another email was sent out on April 10 from ResLife to students containing requirements and a link to the summer housing application. The email did not provide students with an explanation as to why the apartments on campus were eliminated this summer.

“I feel that I am more frustrated because I don’t know why this is happening,” said Kathryn Burke, a sophomore who is staying on campus this summer to fulfill nine credits.

A couple issues students have with the new changes to summer housing this year are the limited dining options they will have as well as difficulties they will have with transportation.

“Please note that our summer housing options do not provide access to a kitchen, but RoMo’s Cafe will be open to provide dining options during the summer,” ResLife said via email to students. “Students interested in housing at Yorktown will need to provide their own transportation, as our shuttle service does not operate during the summer.”

Burke said she is not looking forward to living in a traditional-style dorm.

“I am extremely disappointed, to be honest,” said Burke. “I lived in an apartment this year, so it is going to be inconvenient to have to get used to freshman-style dorming.”

Haney said another issue that was encountered with allowing summer housing in the apartments was the number of times students would have to move dorms.

“In the past, when students would stay for summer in the apartments, we would have them move to transition housing in the beginning, because the apartments weren’t ready because seniors were still here,” said Haney. “Then we would have to move them into transition housing again in the fall before the school year started until their classes ended.”

This year, students would spend more time than usual moving because of the academic schedule. The new system for summer housing will greatly reduce the movement of students from dorm to dorm.

“A lot of people were on board about these changes,” said Haney.

For further questions, contact the Office of Residence Life at 412-397-5252 or at [email protected].