"Tripling", the newest disappointment from UCM

Colleges & Universities University of California - Merced
1

<p>In the letter I received today in the mail, UCM has “made the decision to ‘triple’ a number of rooms in our new residence halls, Mariposa and Tuolomme. Your student may be assigned to one of these triples.”</p>

<p>Wait wait wait. I already can’t park in UCM and now the double I signed up for may be converted to a triple?! Yet again, the student affairs department at UCM shows their incompetence in planning for the future. It was bad enough that I am not allowed to drive and now I probably won’t get the room I want. Great. Hats off to you UCM.</p>

<p>Here’s another little tidbit from the letter: “In sum, approximately 380 of the 1100+ students living on campus will be in triples.”</p>

<p>Looks like we’ve got roughly a 4/11 chance of being assigned a triple. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for what we get.</p>

<p>Now, to some people this might not even matter. Bring on the extra person, it’s just one more friend to have. That’s great if you share that opinion. However, I like to be a believer of “you get what you pay for” and being unfairly assigned to a room you didn’t originally want to occupy is the result of faulty planning and mismanagement.</p>

<p>It’s just plain common sense that if you are an institution, you don’t allow more students than you can afford to have on campus. This is the only reason why triples would be assigned, overcrowding.</p>

<p>Another interesting segment: “…our goal will be to “de-triple” as many rooms as possible as soon as space becomes available.”</p>

<p>So we have to wait till other kids drop out to get what we signed up for. Awesome.</p>

<p>This just further proves my point that UCM is thirsty for students, so much so to the point where they actually have to over-enroll and squeeze students in. Wonder why UCB doesn’t take in students that are highly qualified? Simply put, there isn’t any space. Perhaps UCM should adopt this same modus operandi when it comes to admitting students.</p>

<p>Believe they didn’t intend to screw us over in parking? Well, this latest episode just proves otherwise. They have failed us once again.</p>

<p>Seems like they’ll do anything for students…</p>

<p>What do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>I have not gotten this email yet(Please send me this email if I do not receive it by Tuesday), but this is clearly unfair.
NOW bring out your guns, tanks, and armor fusionall - bring some for me as well - because if this is true then I’m with you all the way.</p>

<p>I will not tolerate having 3 people in my dorm. Parking somewhere else in the city - of fine; being crowded in a small tiny room in Mariposa hall - unacceptable!</p>

3

<p>To Leviathan08: </p>

<p>I received this through regular postage mail. The letter also contained the parking problem but vaguely described the situation to the point where everything seemed fine.</p>

<p>I can scan it for you if you did not receive your copy yet. </p>

<p>I want as many people to know about this as possible. This just isn’t fair.</p>

4

<p>It is not uncommon for schools to find themselves short of rooms for incoming freshmen and have to squeeze more students in. Sometimes the school “finds” new rooms by making arrangements with a nearby apartment complex or hotel, or by converting an existing student lounge in a residence hall into extra dorm rooms. Often it is only for a short time (a few weeks to a semester perhaps) as students don’t show up, drop out, decide to move off-campus, etc. but sometimes it ends up being for the whole year.</p>

<p>However, if you have a “forced” triple, then the school should reduce your room charge proportionately. After all, if you have only 1/3 of a double room, you should not be paying the same amount as a student that actually has 1/2 of a double room. Students in forced triples at my son’s school, Boston College, have their room rate adjusted automatically.</p>

5

<p>To worried_mom: I sure hope you’re right about it usually being a short time. And yes, Merced is reducing the “forced” triple rate down to what it would’ve been if the student had selected a triple originally ($8000 give or take).</p>

<p>I’d like to think that this is just a common error on many college campuses but this recent news coupled with our parking situation makes it hard to believe that the staff at UCM did the best to keep us informed. </p>

<p>Three weeks before move-in day may be three weeks too late for some I fear, especially to those on summer vacation who come back to find that UCM has tacked on an extra roommate.</p>

<p>Oh, my step-brother went to BC. Awesome school. My cousin, who is currently attending MIT, remarked about how the BC campus is so nicely kept but the MIT campus is aged. :p</p>

6

<p>LOL This is truly epic fail! Im in a triple room right now but since the room was MEANT to be a triple I’m in a better position than those who will go from double-> triple … Man this is so stupid…</p>

7

<p>Guys… its merced… what do you expect</p>

8

<p>Well, I personally expected honesty (in terms of the parking) and the ability to deliver what’s promised. Regardless of school rank, integrity should always be upheld.</p>

<p>Apparently I should lower my standards so I wouldn’t get disappointed in the future.</p>

<p><em>sigh</em></p>

<p>At least it will only be two years…hopefully.</p>

9

<p>It’s true. 380 out of 1100 are going to have “forced” triples. I just hope I’m not one of them. The rooms are already small enough; how are 3 ppl going to function smoothly in that small room? </p>

<p>I’m going to keep my fingers crossed. </p>

<p>Well to be honest:</p>

<p>UCM did tell us about both situations during orientation and bobcat day. They always said, “Your dorm might be transfered into a triple if needed.” and “We’re building new dorms that should be functional in 2010, so new students might not have parking.”</p>

<p>I suppose we just never took it seriously. At least in the letter UCM did say that they will having parking lots off-campus. But, only for mon- fri which means you would HAVE to go home EVERY weekend if you parked your car in the alternative parking lots. This is unacceptable that we wouldn’t be able to say in UCM for 2 weeks straight because we would HAVE to move our car on Friday and bring it back Monday - every weekend. If they allowed us to leave our cars in the parking lots during the weekends as well as the week days then parking wouldn’t be an issue. However, this is too inconvenient.
Back to housing:
I really do not to know what to say about housing. I mean we were not promised a double; they did let us know we might change to a triple, so there’s not much I can say except: </p>

<p>Please be one of the 720 without triple.</p>

10

<p>this happen’s to all UC’s, i know a bunch of kids who were forced tripled from UCSD, UCI… </p>

<p>and when u signed up for housing, it said</p>

<p>first preferred room type: “double”</p>

<p>second preferred room type: “triple” </p>

<p>(or the other way around for people who choose)</p>

<p>so, it’s not like ur not getting what u sign up for, ur just getting ur second preference, and everyone had to put a second preference.</p>

<p>AND</p>

<p>The housing shortage was on the website before the SIR deadline, if u checked…
in the housing handbook so this is nothing new, this will probably happen every year, they always accept more people than they have room for, because a lot of people turn them down. just like with other colleges</p>

11

<p>Yup Adrian19 said it perfectly. We both said the same thing: UCM did tell us that we could get forced into a triple. I still hope I’m not one of them. I really don’t want a triple, but you don’t always get what you want in life.</p>

12

<p>To Arian19: Excellent points brought up. I didn’t bother with housing much as logging in was quite difficult (for me at least, I couldn’t find the damn login screen for the longest time).</p>

<p>I always assumed that Merced, being the small campus that it is, wouldn’t make the mistake of over-enrolling. In my opinion, Merced admitted WAY too many students. There were even some accepted who did not meet the UC minimums, at least this is what I’ve been told. This could have been avoided with careful planning but, as said previously, this probably happens to many other institutions as well.</p>

<p>Looks like I jumped the gun a bit but this disappointment in housing in addition to the parking situation is just a major inconvenience, at least for me. </p>

<p>4/11 isn’t a lot but I sure hope I’m not one of them.</p>

13

<p>[UC</a> MERCED Epay](<a href=“http://mybill.ucmerced.edu%5DUC”>http://mybill.ucmerced.edu)</p>

<p>UC Merced has added the housing charge, my charge says “Double Housing w/ Meal”
i guess that means im in a double</p>

<p>: )</p>

14

<p>Yay mine says the same thing
are we getting our housing assignments this week?</p>

15

<p>i already know who my roommate is and what room and building i am in (i went to the housing table during orientation, and i asked), But they did say they will tell you who ur roommate/s are about 2 weeks before August 22.</p>

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<p>for all of you who are expecting to be in a double, and their epay says you are paying for a double room…
dont be so hasty in your assumptions!</p>

<p>last year, i “paid” for a double room, then was assigned two other roommates, and then received the leftover balance when my account was adjusted from a double rate to a triple rate.</p>

17

<p>thanks for ruining my moment</p>

<p>just kidding</p>

<p>So when do u know for sure that u have a double, after move-in or is their still a chance of being put into a triple after move-in date?</p>

18

<p>unfortunately, there is always still a chance.</p>

<p>some people have problems with their roommate, people drop out…
stuff happens and housing readjusts roommates as needed.</p>

<p>if its not too late, your best bet is to find someone at orientation you get along with and request them as your roommate.</p>

<p>then it wont be as bad…</p>

19

<p>welp! too late for me. I went to orientation already. Can we change our roommate on move in day if we have someone in mind.</p>

20

<p>you can try, but i doubt housing will let you.</p>

<p>you have to have a valid reason as to why you would like to separate from your current roommate.</p>

<p>since you have already gone to orientation, i would just try to make the best of it.</p>