Good afternoon,
We have received a few questions regarding summer housing, which makes sense as we close the spring semester. I hope you find the information below and the virtual meeting I have scheduled for Wednesday, May 20, to be helpful.
Summer housing
Spring semester housing and residential dining end on May 23. Traditionally, students would move to summer housing in early June and stay there until fall housing and residential dining open in late August. Graduating seniors almost always would move out on the day following Commencement. After our initial communication, we realized that a large portion of our graduating seniors are still unable to travel or are unsure of their job status or graduate program. To that end, all students, including graduating seniors, can stay in College-owned housing through June 30 at no additional cost to individual students (provided a MyHousing registration is completed Thursday, May 21). This, we hope, will not only ease the minds of seniors but also offset what students would have been expecting to earn for housing through on-campus jobs.
Summer student employment opportunities
As we can safely do so, we are committed to rehiring students for summer work. That said, Skillman Library and the recreation center tend to be large employers and have no set date to resume on-campus operations. Students whose EXCEL research can be done remotely will be paid for it and should have already been notified by the faculty of start dates and work expectations. We will employ students where we can find opportunities and within the guidelines set by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Summer dining
Every residence hall features at least one kitchen, and as soon as practical following the end of the semester, units that have kitchens (e.g., Watson Courts, Fisher East and West) will be cleaned and made available for summer housing. LANTA continues to operate select bus routes to grocery stores, and Student Government will sponsor a weekly shuttle to the grocery store. In addition, Pard Pantry, which has been focusing on snacks and non-perishable items, will be expanded to help students with limited ability to secure food. We recognize that students who live on campus will face the same challenges as families in the community with managing escalating food costs and shortages of staple items. We will provide evolving details about all local buying options to assist students in making choices. We have experimented with providing summer meal service to students and have found it to be both expensive and underutilized.
Student emergency funding
We have been working to assist students with extraordinary needs through the generous donations to the Student Support Emergency Fund and Krivoski Student Emergency Fund. However, neither of those funds is limitless, and as families have struggled with changing employment or illness, it has strained our capacity to meet all of the requests.
Virtual meeting
I will host a virtual meeting on Wednesday, May 20, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. for on-campus students, faculty, and staff who have questions or suggestions on how we can better match student needs with available resources. Register for the meeting here.
The MyHousing application will open on Monday, May 18. Students who do not have plans to move out by May 23 need to fill out the application as soon as possible.
Be well,
Annette Diorio
Vice President for Campus Life