Recently, Housing and Residence Life sent out a survey to the Seattle U student population concerning housing options and pricing. The survey asked the student to pick from a list of housing options that they would be interested in, and then led to a question over pricing per quarter for said options.

From my survey, the majority of the housing options were either (a) incredibly rare and expensive on campus or (b) nonexistent at the moment. The fact that the survey then led to pricing that was incredibly exorbitant, even by Seattle U standards, only made me more discouraged with our university’s housing.

I lived on campus for my freshman and sophomore years, and had mostly bad experiences both times. I completely understand that Housing is a very busy office on campus, and are doing their best to make sure students are accommodated to the best of their abilities. However, sending out a survey like this, showing housing options that most likely won’t be available until after we’ve all graduated and pricing that only slaps students with further debt, is ridiculous.

Living in this area is difficult enough without having to deal with on-campus housing prices. Sure, there is a lot of construction in the area and new apartment buildings opening up, but rent is also on the rise for the consumerism that the area has more recently attracted.

Instead of focusing on giving students these invisible options, perhaps Housing can focus on making sure every student has a bed upon move-in. I don’t condone the fact that Housing often leaves many rooms empty while filling up efficiency triples like there’s no tomorrow, and I think that they need to make sure that students are getting a good living experience. Maybe we should start utilizing our existing housing options as opposed to ripping off students.