the Cypress Lake Wire

By Gabriella Mouton

Gavin LeSieur thought his transition to college was set. He applied to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette from his hometown in Missouri, was accepted and had an Aug. 19 orientation date. But days before he was supposed to make the trip, after sending what he estimates were 30 to 40 emails about housing, he learned he wouldn’t be staying in a campus dorm. Instead, he was being placed in a hotel indefinitely.

“I was spiraling,” he said. “I was like, ‘No, it’s gonna work out. It’s gotta work out.’”

LeSieur is one of many students affected by UL’s continued housing shortage. For the second year in a row, the university has relied on a hotel to house overflow students due to a lack of available dorm space. This fall, UL downsized from multiple hotels to a single location, the Wingate by Wyndham on Kaliste Saloom Road, but several students said communication about the placement was unclear or late.

The decision to use the hotels as a temporary placement for students was a quick one, according to Dawn Miller, UL Lafayette’s director of housing. She said the goal is to get everyone onto campus as quickly as possible.

“We made a conscious effort as a university to make sure that whoever is in the hotel does not feel like they’re not a part of campus,” she said.

Sophomore Haley Mendez lived at the Wingate during her freshman year, when it served as an all-women’s facility. She said her initial concerns were safety, distance and feeling disconnected from campus life.

“I didn’t want to stay off of campus for my first year, you know, because it’s my freshman year,” she said. “I’m going to a new city that I don’t know.”

The university kept its promise and provided accommodations very similar to those in the dorms. Residence Life staff worked on site, RAs lived on each floor and a receptionist monitored the lobby. But some challenges came with converting a hotel into long-term housing. Mendez said she often commuted home on weekends to wash clothes, bought extra storage because the room lacked space and struggled to catch the shuttle reliably.

By mid-semester, she said confusion grew about when, or if, students would be moved into traditional dorms. Cost quickly became a concern.

“I think a lot of students weren’t really informed,” Mendez said. “Students that stayed at the hotels weren’t really informed about help, financial aid or any type of information.”

Miller confirmed that the cost of hotel placement is similar to that of other UL dorms, meaning students are still responsible for standard housing charges. For students relying heavily on financial aid, that can be significant. According to UL’s website, 70% of students receive

financial aid, and for those with housing scholarships, ACT scores determine how long their housing award lasts.

Senior Charlotte Lugg said the cost of living on campus contributed to a substantial portion of her student loan debt.

“It is the better option to live on campus…because there’s more opportunity for you there,” she said. “But I think knowing that probably at least $10,000 of my loans is strictly from living on campus is crazy.”

Demand continues to outpace supply. UL currently has six residence halls, three apartment complexes, two satellite locations and one support hall, with space for roughly 3,900 students. The university is in the early stages of exploring future housing expansions and scholarship restructuring to allow more flexibility and free up space for incoming freshmen.

The housing department conducted a survey to see students’ reactions to living in the hotels, and the results showed a positive response.

“We’re always asking ourselves, okay, what can we do different? What can we improve?” Miller said.

LeSieur ultimately chose not to move into the Wingate and is staying with a close friend in Youngsville until he finds a permanent place. He said he is grateful he had somewhere to go, but he worries about the students who don’t.

“What if I didn’t have anyone to back me up? I literally would have been screwed,” he said.