For students looking at which colleges they would like to attend, one thing that they look at is housing. From which dorm, room type and who to room with, new and returning students rely on housing to be able to attend the school of their choosing. 

Students at FGCU are currently faced with limited housing leading up to the fall 2023 semester.

When it comes to returning students searching for housing on campus, the application opened last November and the process closed in February.

Charlie Braun, the director of assignments and billing for housing, gave insight to this issue. 

“Where you may be hearing a waiting list out in the universe right now, is related to the current students, our returning applicants,” Braun said. “They don’t get to select from the entire inventory that we have on campus. We have close to 5,000 beds, and some of those are reserved for incoming first-year students.”

Palmetto Hall, Everglades Hall, Biscayne Hall and Eagle Hall in South Village are residence halls designated for freshmen. Currently for new applicants, or students who have not lived on campus the previous semester, there is no waitlist.

Braun and colleagues have seen an increase in anxiety surrounding whether or not students are going to be able to afford to live on campus due to the rental climate in Fort Myers. 

“We have certainly seen high demand, but it’s impossible to predict how that will all play out. I think that COVID and the hurricane are proof of that,” Braun said. “We do have a waiting list every year, that’s not unusual to us, but I do believe perception of the waiting list has shifted based on their experience in the last couple of years.”

Housing on campus currently ranges from $3,078 to $3,398 per semester.

If returning students were placed on the waitlist for housing it is encouraged to look for options and to have more than one plan. For returning students who applied after the deadline, they are not turned away but instead placed on the waiting list. 

“If they are on the waiting list and don’t get housing, it is because they didn’t participate in the process like they were supposed to,” Braun said. 

Housing is no longer accepting applications from returning students who wish to live on campus.

There are three off-campus options for student housing. University Village, The Reef and Coastal Village are communities advertised for student living arrangements.

Incoming transfer student, Jessica Rockey, is one of the students struggling to find housing this year. When Rockey toured campus in March, she knew FGCU was the school she wanted to go to. Right after making her decision, Rockey was immediately told to apply and pay for housing, or she wouldn’t find housing for the fall semester.

“I was really glad in my decision for FGCU, but it has been a huge stressor,” Rockey said. “I ended up finding a room at Coastal Village, but that was super stressful because when I was signing the documents, they were telling me I had to sign it by the end of the day because they couldn’t guarantee my housing since they were out of space. It’s scary because even though you are signing a lease agreement and you think you are all set; you could find out you didn’t have a spot.”

On Facebook, there are many groups that students can join to find roommates and housing options, such as FGCU Roommates and FGCU Subleases and Roommates. One common thread of these groups is students writing that they are in urgent need of housing for the upcoming semester or that they are looking to sublease their room.

For students still looking for housing, these are groups to join to find subleases at these student housing communities or other housing options.