When Weinberg sophomore Maryam Khan saw the number 1,061, she began to reconsider living on campus next year.
With such a low-priority housing number, Khan worried she might end up in a dorm where she didn’t know a soul.
“I really don’t know what I’m doing right now,” Khan said Wednesday, the day before she was scheduled to pick her room for next year. “If everything’s sold and I end up in Rogers House or some all-girls dorm, I’ll probably end up living off campus.”
When Khan picked her room Thursday — the last day she could get a single — she got the last one left on campus, she said. But even after getting a room in South Mid-Quads Hall, Khan still is considering moving off campus.
For Khan and other students who are not happy with last week’s housing-selection results, off-campus housing still is an option. Although many students have had next year’s apartments or houses secured for months, some are still available, according to Evanston landlords and property managers.
“People can definitely rest assured that not everything has been taken,” said Eric Paset, co-owner of North Shore Apartments and Condos, an agency that helps place students in area apartments and condominiums. “We still have a lot of options available for September.”
Paset said North Shore still has quite a few unrented two-bedroom apartments. He said more apartments, including studios and one-bedrooms, will become available May 1, after current residents submit their renewal notifications.
Housing lottery participants thinking about snagging these availabilities need not worry that selecting a dorm room for next year has locked them into NU housing. Students are not committed to on-campus housing until they sign their housing contracts in May, said Mark D’Arienzo, associate director of university housing.
But this late in the housing process, renting at least some apartments close to campus may be an impossibility.
Landlord Barry Bernsen of Willard Apartments, 1901-07 Sherman Ave., said students started contacting him in October about renting one of the building’s 12 apartments for the 2004-05 academic year.
“We have one available right now,” Bernsen said. “We had 12. We have one.”
McCormick sophomore Omoseni Sulyman avoided a possible apartment search thanks to a little good luck. Although he and his friends had been looking for off-campus housing, Sulyman decided to stay in the dorms after his priority number secured him a single in Kemper Hall.
“I did want to live off campus,” he said. “But if I was going to stay on campus, Kemper was the only place I wanted to live in.”
But for those not as lucky as Sulyman, even Evanston apartments with no current vacancies may be a future option.
“We have rented everything we know is available,” said Ed Crespo, property manager of Evanston Neighborhood Properties, LLC, which owns four Evanston apartment buildings. “But based on prior years, I think about 25 more apartments will become available (after renewals).”
Those apartments could help out students, such as Weinberg junior Kerin Mackanin, who have waited until Spring Quarter to cement housing plans. Mackanin, who gave up on finding a room on campus because of her priority number, said she isn’t worried about lack of available off-campus housing.
“I wasn’t all that upset about it,” she said. “I’m really okay with living off campus. I feel like there will be something available.”
