On campus housing shortage at Buff State forces seniors off campus

SUNY Buffalo State has a housing shortage that will affect rising seniors beginning fall 2017.

Buff State sent out a letter to students on Monday to announce that housing priority will be given to underclassmen and rising seniors will have to find off campus housing for their final year.

The college has partnered with Campus Walk, a new private student housing development next to campus on Grant Street and developed by Greenleaf.

"Rising senior-level students can request to be placed on the Buffalo State housing "wait list," but housing will only be provided based upon space availability, which will be determined in July 2017," the letter said.

The letter says Campus Walk is a 318-bed complex "will feature apartments with private bathrooms for each resident, a common living room, and full-size washers and dryers in each unit. Other amenities will include a central study lounge, a computer lab with Apple products, and a state-of-the-art fitness center."

While this sounds good on paper, a response letter from the United Students Government at Buffalo State says the 314 beds at Campus Walk is not enough to accommodate about 340 rising seniors next fall.

Rising seniors are also concerned about the cost to live at Campus Walk and having to pay more than the other classes.

"The rental rates for the new property will be prohibitively expensive," the letter from USG said. "The cheapest rate in the new off-campus housing complex where rising seniors would be forced to live is the same as the most expensive rates at...the most expensive housing on campus."

The student government group added that the college's retention crisis has to do with this housing policy which bans the students who have been loyal to the school for four years and have not transferred from being guaranteed a place to live.

"A policy that completely excludes rising seniors from getting housing on campus marginalizes rising seniors, and re-enforces the perpetuating cycle that students should transfer to other schools that cater to the entire student population."