UCLA delays housing offers because of problems with application system
By Roberto Luna Jr.
April 14, 2015 1:26 a.m.
UCLA Housing delayed next year’s housing offers to thousands of students early last week to fix several problems with its online application system.
The problems stemmed from UCLA Housing’s transition to a new software for its room assignment process, said Sarah Quinn, director of UCLA Housing. The new software, made by StarRez, did not display the application properly, making parts of it unreadable or confusing for students, she said.
UCLA switched software providers this year because its previous vendor discontinued its service.
Officials said they hope to have housing offers ready by next week, but they do not know for sure when they will be ready.
Students will still have the same amount of time to sign their new housing contracts and choose their meal plan and payment plan preferences, Quinn said.
The rooms students chose during room sign-up will not change, she added. After students accept their housing offer, they will also still be given another week to make their initial payment.
Some students said they are upset that Housing has delayed the process.
Sam Hwang, a third-year history student,said he wants to know if he will receive an offer to live on the Hill before he starts looking for an apartment.
He had to go through a lottery process because fourth-year students are not guaranteed on-campus housing.
“For some apartments we have to pay beforehand, so we have to know if we’re going to live on the Hill or not, or else we might lose money,” he said.
Some other students, however, said they do not mind the delay because offers will still be the same in the next weeks, and the delay will give them more time to make the initial payment.
Danielle Tran, a first-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student, said she will be happy as long as she gets the room that she chose during room sign-up.
“I’m not worried because we’re going to get our offers,” she said.
Housing officialshope that the delay will give them some time to make the offer process similar to previous years’ and more accessible to students, Quinn said.
