"Entering freshmen are guaranteed housing; however, students who are the last to be admitted may be placed in temporary housing (i.e., rooms with expanded occupancy, vacancies in special interest housing, or local hotels)."
From prior threads, the use of temporary housing (in particular, local hotels) seemed to be a really sore point for RIT in the past. Can any current students or recent graduates (or their respective parents) comment on the 'stste of affairs' of RIT housing today. My D is conteplating going to RIT, but I do not think a temporary/hotel housing arrangement would work for her personally (a dorm would be best). Also, has Park Point helped (or hurt) the situation at all?
Would appreciate any feedback. Thx.
Last edited by OneProudDad; 03-25-2011 at 07:18 AM.
Reason: typo
My daughter graduated last year, and did not have a problem her freshman year, but she was in a program that you had to apply early decision. For the next 2 years she lived in an on-campus apartment, then off-campus her senior year. We have had kids from our school go to RIT every year since then, and have never heard of any of them getting placed in any type of temporary housing. One of them, 3 years ago, was in a tripled room.
The only thing I heard about Park Point is that it is very expensive to live there.
My son in a Junior this year. After his first year (in the dorms), he and most of his friends applied for on campus apartments. All but one were assigned to the RIT Inn, either on a permanent or temporary basis. This requires a shuttle to get back and forth to campus if you do not have a car.
We started looking for off campus apartments - hopeful to find something closer to the campus. We ended up buying a house for him and his friends to live in. It's worked out well for us, but we have been lucky with the house we found and the group of boys we have living there.
Park Point had a bad rep from the get-go. It is considered on campus so students living there cannot park on campus. Also the prices are very high and the construction was low quality.
From what dlbarger said, I'm wondering if girls get preference for on campus housing.
I guess the only people I have heard of living in the RIT Inn are boys. On the plus side, doesn't each room have a private bathroom, and double beds? Also, do the rooms get cleaned just like a hotel? The 2 boys I knew who lived there actually requested to stay there after the first year - they really liked it!
My D had a car after her first semester (she couldn't find an on-campus job, so found one at a nearby sub-shop). she ended up driving to class from her on-campus apartment because it was so far! Her off-campus apartment, was only about a mile from campus.
You may be right about the maid service and private bath, but living in a hotel 3 miles from campus does not provide the "college experience" and makes it hard to use the meal plans unless you stay on campus all day. Again, unless they have a car, the restaurant at the RIT Inn may be their only alternative. I think the students would feel isolated there.
I'm sure the boys loved the maid service, but I don't think I would want my son/daughter to get used to having that kind of service! LOL.
Housing for the first year is a mixed bag. If you are lucky (which is most people) you will be put in a normal 2 person dorm room. If you are unlucky, you will be put in a 3-4 person lounge. If you are really unlucky you will be put in a "forced triple" which is a two person room with three people in it.
However, almost all of these problems go away within the first quarter, as people move around the campus. So as long as you can hold out for a quarter, you will usually end up in a better situation.
After your first year, it is very unlikely you will end up in the dorms again, unless you join a special interest house. The on campus apartments are always filled very quickly as former residents get squatters rights.
The off campus housing is not something I dealt to much with, as I only lived in Park Point during my last year. I had no problems with it, but they were brand new.
Regarding the RIT Inn, it is a long way from campus, and while it is not bad, I would not want to live there, as you really do lose the college experience.
Hello, our s lives in the Inn. he's a transfer student and now a junior. It's not bad. He was sick with recurrent sinus infections for first 4 months of this school year and it was from the mold in his HVAC unit. Unfortunate that it took a visit from me to find the issue but the unit was replace literally in two minutes after I told the front desk. That said, the carpet, drapes, bedding, etc still are covered in mold, right? The forced food plan stinks and they cannot have a microwave in their room. I searched all three floors for a micro and none to be found. Our son has leftover $$$ in his food plan each quarter because he lives 3 miles from campus and has late classes so he prefers the fast food joints on the way home. I feel that RIT has taken advantage of us. All of this considered he certainly has more room than he would in any other on campus housing. It is mostly boys and nontraditional students. Absolutely no socialization with the exception of some video game nerds on the first floor. Our S feels completely out of the loop. He wants to move to Park Point which I think is insane.
Important point about this:
FIRST YEAR STUDENTS have absolute priority for vacant dorms. It is very, very rare for a first year to end up out there. Typically "RIT Inn" residents are students who lost the housing lottery their second year or third years returning from co-ops and were unable to find housing.
There ARE more guys then girls at the hotel, but that's because of the overall ratio of the school, not some sort of gender preference [which I'm pretty sure would be illegal].
The hotel is a legitimate hotel open to the public, with the full amenities you'd expect and more. This DOESN'T make up for the isolation if you don't have a car [like others have said, there is zero communication between Inn residents], but room service can make January suck a little less.
Bottom line: your first year student will almost definitely not end up at the Inn in their first year. If they can get an apartment handed down from a senior/transfer student, get an off campus apartment on their own, or if they are just a little bit luckier than I was, they won't end up there second or third year either.
