THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
10 March 2015
VOLUME 74: EDITION 2
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Over-allocation in Residences
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Ronel Koekemoer Every year students moving into UCT residences face the possiblity of being allocated a room that has already been assigned. Over-allocation of rooms in residences is a controversial policy, and affects up to half the students who receive residence offers before coming to UCT. According to the Director of Student Housing and Residence Life, Grant Willis, it is necessary to make more offers than the amount of rooms available as many students accept their housing offer but do not arrive during Orientation Week. Student Housing said that the over-allocation makes provision for students who need a place in residence and would otherwise be restricted by the perceived spaces available. When questioned about overallocation, Willis maintained that it is “an inevitable part of assigning spaces in residence”. The policy is seen as necessary in order to allow for minimal financial loss and maximum bed utilisation. These views were shared by a number of student leaders and wardens, who acknowledged the reasoning behind the over-allocation. A sub-warden at Smuts Hall, who wished to remain unnamed, supported the policy saying that “every year [Student
Housing] consults the previous year’s statistics carefully when deciding by how many students to over-allocate”. The SRC agreed with these sentiments and noted that the adverse effects of over-allocation have decreased over the years and the policy is refined yearly.
The policy is seen as necessary... for minimal financial loss Not all residences are made to deal with the implications of overallocation, although every year there are students affected. This year Varietas Residence complained about having to turn students away as a result of the over-allocation policy. Buntu Yabo, a first year student, was one person adversely affected by the policy on over-allocation. Yabo was told that he had been allocated a place in residence, but the residence he had been assigned was still undecided. He was made to wait a week before receiving confirmation, missing out on the start of residence orientation. A major issue surrounding the policy is how student residence leaders and staff are expected to handle the complaints every year, with limited guidance or methods
to deal with the situation. A subwarden from Glendower Residence, who asked to be kept anonymous, expressed their concern over the policy’s implementation. They mentioned that they were told to be on stand-by should disgruntled parents start asking why the subwardens could not give their child a room, although the need for this did not arise. The sub-warden also commented that the stress of sign-in day was amplified by the fear that, if capacity was reached, they would have to deal with the backlash and explain the policy of over-allocation without representation from Student Housing. A further problem that arose was the issue of room allocation. In residence, first year room allocations are randomly assigned – sub-wardens receive a list of names and have to assign room numbers to these names. Since the list includes over-allocated names, this makes it difficult to assign rooms and can create problems if students are given the same room when there are still spaces available. Residence over-allocation is not specific to UCT and other universities have complained about similar problems. Earlier this year, students from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) who had received places in residence were turned away because all vacancies had been filled. Unlike UCT, many of the students who were turned away
from Wits residences were returning students. Despite issues with the handling of over-allocation, UCT does aim to cater for a large influx of out-of town students. There is a separate orientation programme for these students, and the residences are equipped with facilities and leadership structures to allow for an easier transition from home to university. First-tier residences have 3 813 available spaces and provide accommodation and support to a large portion of the students coming from areas outside of Cape Town.
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Residence overallocation is not specific to UCT The debate around over-allocation is not new and the policy has raised concerns in past years, with students and parents complaining that it creates a false sense of expectation and security. A 2013 article in VARSITY reported on the policy, calling it controversial and unsettling. In 2013, the policy came under scrutiny when a large number of first years entering Forest Hill, who had received letters saying they had been accepted at the residence, were told upon arrival that all the beds had been occupied.
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