University of Tennessee at Chattanooga overbooks housing, puts students in hotel
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
UTC sophomore Danny Butler was looking forward to life on campus this fall. He envisioned short walks to class from his room at UTC Place and visiting with friends who lived just down the hall.
But instead of warming a bed on campus, Mr. Butler and several other students will be hanging their backpacks at the Days Inn Rivergate on Carter Street downtown.
Staff Photo by Megha Brown
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman Nathan Wilson, left, and his friend, sophomore Chase Frith, leave their campus apartments at UTC Place Friday afternoon. The housing complex has not met expected occupancy rates.
“We kind of expected to get rooms, but that isn’t going to happen,” he said.
In late June, housing officials at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga notified more than 150 students that they would begin their fall semester in hotel rooms, said Chuck Cantrell, assistant vice chancellor for university relations.
UTC, which has 2,801 beds on campus, overbooked rooms this year, thinking that many students who signed up for on-campus housing would back out before school began, Mr. Cantrell said. Traditionally, 1 percent to 2 percent of students registered for housing are no-shows, he said, so overbooking is an industry standard.
“You always have students who book for housing and don’t show up,” he said. “(Overbooking) is a great problem to have, but it is an inconvenience.”
In the last month, 75 of the 150 students notified about the UTC overbooking have been placed on campus, he said. Thirty students have decided to begin their semester at the Days Inn, and housing officials expect that number to grow to around 50, Mr. Cantrell said.
Several students who were told they would be living in a hotel this upcoming semester chose to look for off-campus apartments, he said.
Once the semester begins, some students who move into on-campus housing probably will leave, Mr. Cantrell said, allowing students from the hotel to move onto campus.
UTC HOUSING
* 2,801 — number of beds on the UTC campus
* 30 — number of students who have agreed to live in hotel rooms
* 150 — number of students who were told they could not live on campus
* 2 — percentage of students registered for student housing expected to be no-shows
Students at the Days Inn will be provided with the same kinds of residential information programs and resident assistants as those in regular dorms, Mr. Cantrell said. A shuttle will take them from the hotel to the school each day, he said.
The same rules for on-campus housing will apply to the residents at the Days Inn, he said.
On-campus housing is not a new challenge for UTC, Mr. Cantrell said. In 2004, the third building phase of UTC Place, located across McCallie Avenue from campus, was not completed in time for the school year and students were placed in hotels, he said.
Before the first phase of UTC Place was finished in 2001, the campus had too few rooms to meet the needs of students who wanted to live on campus, he said.
“You expect it not to fill up. We overbuilt, but then our growth surpassed what we expected,” he said. “Now we are looking at building more student housing.”
Mr. Butler, 20, said he may enjoy the hotel swimming pool or continental breakfast, but he wants to get a place on campus as soon as possible. In an e-mail from UTC housing, Mr. Butler said he was told students who had not paid their fees by early August would lose their spots on campus.
“Honestly it could be worse,” he said. “But I certainly hope I don’t stay (at the hotel) the whole time.”
