Two ASU upper division housing buildings will not be available for students to lease next semester.
University House and RISE on Apache, two current upper division housing options, will no longer be a part of the ASU Tempe Housing portal for students after the spring semester, forcing some students to find new housing options for the 2021-22 school year.
A University Housing spokesperson wrote in an email "Every year the university enters master lease agreements with several community partners in order to provide upper-division student housing. Several of these agreements have ended and are being evaluated."
Despite having several of these lease agreements expire, the spokesperson said the University would meet upper division student housing needs should demand for it change.
"Based upon forecasted need, ASU Housing has sufficient space available for our upper-division students," the spokesperson wrote. "If demand changes, we will adjust. Students can feel confident that if they choose to live on campus, we will be able to fulfill that request."
For the upcoming fall semester, there are now eight upper division housing options listed on the Tempe campus section of the upper division housing webpage, four of which do not require a meal plan, including 922 Place and Villas at Vista Del Sol.
University House and Rise on Apache both declined to comment.
Some students aren't confident the University will be able to accommodate their housing needs. Rachel d'Errico, a freshman studying Japanese currently living at San Pablo Residence Hall, said living at an upper division dorm building on campus is a last resort since the off-campus options of University House and Rise on Apache are both unavailable.
"I applied for upper division housing a bit later, so the only option I got was Sonora Center," d'Errico said, adding she would prefer to live at a leased apartment or work as a community assistant at one of the dorms.
CAs across the ASU Tempe dorms have heard similar stories from their residents as well.
Ana Pablos Almada, a CA at Manzanita Hall and junior studying psychology, said freshmen were already breaking their housing license agreements in order to move out and find other accommodations off campus for the current semester.
Thousands of students have left campus housing this academic year due to the pandemic and many plan to continue to live off campus next semester, she said.
READ MORE: Thousands have left campus as COVID-19 continues to inhibit student life
"Of all the residents I've helped move out, none of them even considered an ASU-affiliated building for the next semester," Pablos Almada said. "I have yet to hear a resident who has said, 'Oh yeah, I'm signing up for on-campus housing next year.' They're all saying they will buy houses or apartments off campus with siblings or cousins."
Reach the reporter at rkalale@asu.edu and follow @pokefanrithwik on Twitter.
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