Devereux Hall
Photo Courtesy: Morgan Kilger
BY MORGAN KILGER, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The housing portal — St. Bonaventure University’s housing selection process — is starting up for the 2025 through 2026 school year.
Freshman accounting major Carly Thomas is halfway through her first year at Bonaventure.
Sophomores can choose between Devereux Hall, Shay Hall, Francis Hall, Doyle Hall, Gardens West apartments, Gardens East Apartments and Townhouses 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, 31, 32 and 33.
Ursula Herz, director of residence life, ensures that every student will have a place to live for the upcoming academic year.
“According to projections and [the] average number of students who move off [campus] or transfer, we will have a space for everyone,” said Herz.
Thomas said she is unphased by her few housing options since she is a freshman. Her main priority is to room with who she wants, she said.
“It’ll suck, but nothing we’re going to be able to do about it,” said Thomas. “As long as you still get to room with the people you want to, it doesn’t matter.”
Thompson said she is aware of the overcapacity within the residence halls and thinks the junior class should be able to live off campus.
Occasionally the university will allow the junior class to live off campus, but Herz said this is not one of those years.
To qualify to live off campus, a student must either be entering their seventh semester at Bonaventure, be over 23 years old by the start of the next academic year, will be or are a graduate student or if their permanent address is within 30 miles of Bonaventure according to Residence Life.
Students must put a $200 housing deposit down before they can be eligible to receive housing. But students who turn in their housing deposits early don’t get to pick their housing first.
Thomas said she believes that the housing process should be on a first come first serve basis. However, she’s torn between the first come first serve basis and that students should pick housing by class.
“I feel that they [students to pay first] should be able to go ahead first,” said Thomas. “I think it should also be still by class.”
There are students who receive housing despite not turning in their housing applications. Ana Beyth, a sophomore Spanish major, was one of these students.
Beyth is a commuter student from Salamanca — about 13 miles from Bonaventure. Despite not putting a housing deposit down or filling out a housing application, she was given a room in Devereux Hall for this academic year.
“We noticed that there was an extra charge on my tuition bill, which was strange because it was not the same amount that I normally have to pay,” said Beyth. “When we called to see what the extra charge was, they said that it was for housing.”
Beyth wasn’t given a clear explanation as to why she got placed in student housing and charged a meal plan as well, she said.
Sophia Matson, a freshman finance and accounting major, appreciates how straightforward the whole process is.
“I think it’s pretty straightforward,” said Matson. “They send you an email, and you just go through it [the steps].”
kilgermi22@bonaventure.edu
