With the start of a new year comes the start of a new housing selection process. Starting spring semester of 2019, SNHU will be making many changes to their housing selection process with the intention of increasing fairness for all students on campus. One of the biggest changes being made to is the removal of GPA from one’s considerations.
Associate Director for Housing Operations Matt Petersons says that they decided to get rid of GPA as a condition of where students are placed because of the Project Atlas program since it does not calculate students’ GPAs. Another reason that they wanted to change this process is that some students’ GPA does not reflect the amount of effort a student has put into their classes, and with students who are taking different classes and are in different majors, it isn’t fair.
This semester, rather than having a student be given a score based on their GPA and the number of credits there will be credit tiers to help determine housing. These credit tiers will be established based on the number of credits someone has and there will be four total tiers. For example, a student who has 90 credits will be put in a tier with other students who have around 90 credits. A random number between 1000-1999 will be assigned to that student. Based on the number they get, a time and date will be assigned to them. Another big change that is being made rather than having specific days for different styles of housing like apartments or suites, students can choose to live anywhere on campus that’s available when it is their time to select housing.
Also, if a group of students wants to live together but cannot get into the housing accommodations they requested because it is not available, the person that holds the highest number out of the group will be able to keep them together and choose how the group proceeds. Another new change with multi-person housing is that a group of four people can choose to live in a suite if it is available and the other two spaces will get filled in later on.
Petersons’ thoughts on this new housing selection process are that it is “clearer and a lot fairer for…students.” One of Petersons’ biggest concerns about this new process is making sure that everyone is able to understand how the new process will work and to make sure no one is confused about it when it comes time for housing selection.
If anyone has any questions about the new housing process then they can go to room 103 in the Green Center where there will be info sessions held about the new housing selection process. They can also talk to someone from the residence life office, their RA or RD or email Matt Petersons at m.petersons@snhu.edu.
