Purdue increases student choice, convenience with online housing contracting

The online system will now allow two sets of roommates to identify and reserve the limited number of rooms that are connected by a common bathroom in Cary and Hillenbrand halls.

"Until now there was no way for four friends to reserve such a suite, particularly when we were processing thousands of requests manually," said Robert Heitert, University Residences director of administration.

Heitert said the automation process has proven cost-effective. Start-up costs were largely recouped in the first year by saving at least 3,000 hours of labor and several thousand dollars in office supplies and postage during last spring's registration.

Sheryl Hodson, Tarkington Hall residential life manager, said the system freed her department from the hundreds of hours spent attempting to reconcile frequently conflicting student room requests.

"My entire staff would be swamped with huge stacks of paperwork that would bog them down until at least spring break," Hodson said. "Now we have more time to better serve the residents in a variety of other ways."

David Larson, residential life manager at Shreve Hall, said the system has helped improve student satisfaction.

"Before, if the room they requested was full, I would have to guess where best to place a student. Too often, I would put together students where one or both did not want to live with the other," Larsen said. "Now the prospective roommates have to both confirm their request online, which saves a lot of time, confusion and awkwardness. They enter their preferences and the computer gives us the results."

The secure four-phase online housing contract system can be accessed through the University Residences home page at http://www.housing.purdue.edu. Students will be required to use their Purdue career account to access the system.

During Phase I, current residents will have three days to contract for their current room for the following academic year without competition from other students. During Phase II, residents who want single rooms can pursue them in order of their seniority in University Residences. If a student is unsuccessful in gaining a single room, they will still have their original choice available.

During phases III and IV, residents can first pursue other rooms within their current residence and then rooms in other residences. The process concludes on Friday, March 30.

A completely online process is now available to incoming freshmen as well. On April 1, instructions will be mailed to students who will be able to go online to provide room preferences and to sign contracts. Last year, contracts were sent to students and returned to the university via mail before students could register their room preferences online.

Purdue created its online system after University Residences officials visited the University of Illinois in 2005 to review its system. Purdue's system has since been featured at multiple conferences.

"We weren't the first to adopt an online system, but by creating our own we built in a lot of flexibility," said Jody Couch, the director of information technology for housing and food services who led the design team in creating the system. "We can fix glitches, change text and make other changes on the fly without having to shut down the system. That's a big advantage to both the students and the administrative staff."

Resident assistants will distribute informational brochures to students explaining how to use the system. Deborah Anderson, residential life manager at Earhart Hall, expects that her staff will be providing lots of one-on-one attention.

"These are young people making important decisions, and they want to make sure they are doing it correctly," Anderson said. "Staff people in University Residences are used to working with students. We like that."

Purdue University Residences provides housing to nearly 12,000 students, making it the largest entirely voluntary on-campus housing system in the nation. The system is in the midst of a 12-year master plan to upgrade existing residences and dining courts. Construction of a new hall and court is scheduled to begin in 2007. Because University Residences receives no state or university funding, these improvements are being made through cost savings, efficiencies and user fees.

Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

Sources: Barbara Frazee, executive director of University residences, (765) 494-1000, bjfrazee@purdue.edu

Robert Heitert, (765) 494-1000, rheitert@purdue.edu

Sheryl Hodson, (765) 494-2312, shodson@purdue.edu

David Larson, (765) 494-2569, larsondr@purdue.edu

Jody Couch, (765) 496-1605, jcouch@purdue.edu

Deborah Anderson, (765) 494-2410, djanderson@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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