Floors two through five are currently vacant in McMahon Hall, the upperclassmen residence hall at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC). Despite speculation of poor residence hall occupancy planning among students, the Administration ensures the 184 vacancies were anticipated.

“We had 300 plus freshmen last year and we knew we weren’t going to replace those,” Dean of Students Keith Eldredge stated.

“When you add a new residence hall that’s how it works. It will take us only a year or two to get to full occupancy in McMahon because we are bringing in larger classes now,” Eldredge continued.

According to both Jenifer Campbell, director of residential life, and Eldredge, McMahon should have “significantly fewer vacancies” by fall of 2015 and will reach full occupancy by fall of 2016.

Currently, the breakdown residents for McMahon is: 95 Law students, 30 graduate students, and for undergraduates: 111 seniors, 159 juniors, and 276 sophomores, for a total of 671 occupants. There are 406 resident freshmen in McKeon Hall.

“We knew there would be a larger than normal number of vacancies this year in McMahon because of adding the new residence hall,” Eldredge said.

Campbell continued, “[The vacancies were] anticipated relative to the budget.”

“Overall we have more housing revenue than last year,” but gesturing out his office window to the new building, “we obviously have more expenses too,” Eldredge said.

“I mean, would the budget office have wanted us to fill all the beds in McMahon Hall, yes, absolutely, but we knew we couldn’t,” Eldredge said.

“You can’t really go from 800 beds to 1300 beds overnight,” he explained.

Residential Life did offer housing to students on the commuter wait list via email, but according to Campbell, that does not suggest a lack of anticipation for the vacancies.

“That’s typical, we go to the commuter wait list every year if we have availability,” Campbell clarified.

Housing is still guaranteed for four years for all undergraduate students who enrolled as a resident their freshmen year and have stayed on campus. According to both Eldredge and Campbell, this is not subject to change in the upcoming years.

“The retention remains to be seen, bringing in classes of 400 plus resident students will gradually fill up McMahon completely,” Eldredge said, “but it doesn’t look like we will run into a situation where we won’t be able to guarantee housing for folks.”

“If you decide to get an apartment off campus and decide you want to come back, then you have to go on the wait list,” Campbell said.

“The only exception we make is if you go off on study abroad you are still guaranteed housing when you return,” Campbell continued.
Students move off campus for a multitude of reasons, but money seems to be the most common, according to Eldredge.

“When we ask students, both anecdotally and through the survey, why they are moving out of McMahon, financial issues are their top reason” Eldredge said.

“We saw, I think after 2008, with the recession, a slight spike in the number of students graduating early. But it wasn’t huge,” Eldredge said.

Retention rates are generally consistent throughout the years according to Campbell because residents who move off campus, “are often looking for a different experience.”

In regards to why students prefer this different experience, “we get a lot of reasons, like the institution rules, mainly guest and alcohol policy,” Eldredge said.

The main reasons of for students moving out of McMahon according to Res Life surgery results of are: “found alternate housing;” “study abroad,” “university withdrawal;” “graduated;” and “transferring.”