Two Fridays ago, campus was ablaze with more than the normal weekend excitement, as juniors were informed whether or not they would be able to live on campus for their Senior years, with the results of the Senior Housing Lottery unveiled.

The University guarantees housing for freshman, sophomore, and junior years. Senior year housing is only guaranteed to students who are admitted to the school under a special scholarship or program, with the remainder of the seniors eligible to enter a housing lottery for the remaining spots.

This year, female students who entered the housing lottery and received a number between 1 and 286 were guaranteed on-campus housing for Senior year. Consequently, they were eligible to participate in housing selection, which began on Monday November 7. The same was true of male students with lottery numbers between 1 and 235. 

Seniors whose numbers fell outside the “cut-off” were placed on the waiting list. Residence Life will reach out to students on the waiting list at a later date based on space available, following the University’s commitment to guaranteeing housing for the first three years. 

Students were understandably anxious in the days leading up to Friday, aware that the random number they drew would have significant consequences – financial, social, and more. This was not helped by Residence Life’s delay in announcing the results. 

Residence Life initially planned to release the Lottery numbers on Tuesday November 1. Students, therefore, were confused when they checked their housing portal and saw no updates. Residence Life later emailed students explaining the delay. 

“Currently,Villanova Residence Life staff members are working with our housing management software team to finalize this process. Lottery numbers will be available tomorrow, in the late afternoon,” the email stated. The numbers, however, were not available until Friday morning. 

As a result, some students had an extra special start to their weekend, content with knowing they had a secured on-campus place to live for the year. For students who entered in a pod with their preferred roommates and won the lottery, this was coupled with the joy of being able to live with their friends.

Other students, however, were not happy with the results of the lottery. 

A current junior, who entered the lottery as a pod with her roommates, explained that they were not lucky enough to win the housing lottery. 

“This has been a major source of stress for me lately,” she said. “My roommates and I have a room secured at the Villas, but I don’t have a car and would have to rely on shuttles and buses to get on and off campus, which is not something I want to do as a senior. I am grateful that we have a backup plan, so I will remain on the housing waitlist and hope some space opens up eventually.

“In a way I think this whole housing situation shows how Villanova fails to accommodate and care for its students properly. The lottery coming out late caused unnecessary stress on all students involved, and if they cared more about their students they would have been more open and honest about the process and the delays.”

Another junior echoed similar complaints about Residence Life’s communication with students. 

“I believe that Residence life did a poor job communicating with the students and explaining the lottery,” she said. “Only one girl in my group of 4 roommates was given a housing time. At first we believed that this meant that our whole group would get housing. However, Residence Life later sent an email and we realized the stipulation that those with housing times can pick only other students with housing times.”

“So many students are being forced to live with random roommates or forced off campus for their senior year at Villanova. This is not what any of us imagined for our last year at this university.”

“The number of rising seniors that can be accommodated on campus in a given year is contingent upon the number of guaranteed students and the number of total available beds on campus,” Skylor Morton, Director of Housing Operations for Residence Life, said. “Each year, Villanova is committed to offering on-campus housing to as many rising seniors as we possibly can. In addition to the lottery, we also monitor the housing waitlist throughout the course of the year as we receive cancellations.”