150 students apply for summer housing
The University of South Dakota is seeing about 150 applications for summer housing, said interim housing director Todd Tucker.
“We’re at the end of the process of making sure everybody has an assignment,” he said.
The application process is exactly the same as applying for regular housing, Tucker said, it’s just a different contract students have to go through.
“Basically, if they’re currently living on campus they just hang tight so we can get the room they’ll be living in clean for summer, and then we’ll transition them over to Coyote Village or Brookman.” he said.
The Brookman and Coyote Village dormitories are the only residence halls available to students for summer housing, as the rest of the buildings on campus have summer camps and conferences going on, Tucker said.
Tucker said housing does prefer that students have a true reason to be on campus during the summer, such as an athlete here for summer workouts, someone staying for an internship or someone staying for summer classes, but that his office does not discriminate.
“If someone needs a place to stay for the summer we’re able to accommodate,” he said. “Some people live on campus for the convenience factor of staying on campus and being close to things they need to be close to, but the summer rates are relatively inexpensive.”
The summer rates that were approved to live in Brookman for the entirety of the summer contract is $1,204. To live in Coyote Village for the entirety of the summer contract in a two-bedroom suite is $683, a four-bedroom suite is $569 per person. A two-bedroom apartment is $727, and a four-bedroom apartment is $602. Daily and weekly rates are also available.
“The prices are set to provide students a break during the summer, knowing there are not a whole lot of housing options available in Vermillion, especially if someone just needs a place for a month or needs it for six weeks for an internship or something like that,” Tucker said. “It’s really hard to find housing outside of campus that can accommodate that.”
Looking ahead to the fall semester, Tucker said the university is expecting close to the same number of students living on campus as last fall.
“We’re right around the same number of applications of students returning as well as new students coming,” he said. “Things could change drastically one way or another over the course of the next couple months, but we’re working under the assumption that we’ll be in the same boat we were last year — having students in overflow spaces for the first part of the semester and then moving them out shortly thereafter when rooms open up.”
