EAST LANSING, Mich. — This year, some first-year students at Michigan State University are not too happy about their housing assignments. It comes from some changes MSU made this year to its roommate selection process.
"We've found in some cases, roommates didn't fully complete the process. They didn't go in and accept every step that they needed to do. We'll certainly be looking at our communication on that process to make sure that we do better at that in the future," Kat Cooper, director of communications for the Residential and Hospitality Services, said.
This year's communication was a video that MSU sent out to all first-year housing students to help get them started with the process.
Students who decide to go in without a specific roommate had to complete a form with several different questions, including lifestyle preferences, like how often they like to have friends visit or stay overnight and whether they prefer the room to be kept quiet or not.
Students with a specific roommate they wanted to live with were supposed to fill out fewer questions centered solely around housing and dining.
"We also have some competing factors like living-learning communities that allow for outside roommates, but only had so many spaces that could accommodate outside roommates," Cooper said.
Freshman Courtney Atkinson is in the living-learning community she requested, but not with the roommate she asked for.
"As a residential business college member, it's super weird that I was placed with someone that's not in the residential business college," Atkinson said. "Especially because I had to find a roommate that was in there originally in order to room together and be a part of the residential business college. It's very frustrating for me also to get to know a whole new person that I think her major was honestly in Lyman Briggs, which is totally different."
Freshman Breanna Watts tells FOX 47 that she believes she completed every step of the process correctly, and not only did she not get the roommate she asked for, but she also didn't get the living-learning community housing she asked for.
"I do think I filled everything out correctly," said Watts. "Because even like, not even just filling out like the whole housing thing. I did that perfectly fine. I did the roommate thing perfectly fine, too. We were both able to see that, oh, I picked her, she picked me, and when I called Live On, they even said, 'Oh, I see that you chose certain like a person like this girl's name.' And I was like, 'yeah.' 'So everything should be fine,' the man on the phone told me."
Watts issued a complaint with MSU, and they eventually put her in the correct dorm. But, she has not been placed with the correct roommate.
Cooper told me she could not comment on specific students' situations, so it's unclear where exactly things went wrong with Watts and Atkinson.
"Even though they went through all the steps to get there, correct roommate, there was not enough space in those living-learning communities for the wanted roommate to be accepted," said Cooper.
Cooper said that MSU has a roommate swap form that students can fill out, but she says they will not be able to accommodate every request.
If students or guardians have questions or concerns, the best thing you can do is call the Residence Education and Housing Services office at 517-884-5483.
Want to see more local news? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Neighborhood News, Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines, and Daily Forecasts.
