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Residence?

Hunter_91
edited June 2009 in General
Hi, I'm hopefully going to be a student at SFU next year but the last hurdle is getting into res. I wasn't given it with my acceptance as I was with all my universities in ontario, so I have to wait.

My query is this why is priorty being given to international students, when I am a Canadian student from out of province?

I know it sounds horrible but it is a public university which is in one way or another payed for by Canada, to me being Canadian it seems that I would get priority based on the distance to SFU. But students from Asia are taking priority over me. I live close to 4200km away.

Any insight whatsoever would be greatly welcomed.

Hunter.

Comments

  • wh0whatwhere
    edited June 2009
    Probably because universities make international studies pay a hefty price to go to school here and live here.....something like double what domestic students pay I believe. I could be wrong..

    E.g.

    Their $12000 for res > your $6000
  • Ether
    edited June 2009
    Plus, they can require that international students take university writing and basic English courses - more money in the bank.
  • GeoGeek
    edited June 2009
    The actual rates for residence are the same for all students.
    You're thinking of tuition.

    Residence is usually given after you've been accepted, so when did this happen? Perhaps this is simply a time issue. Plus, how do you know "students from Asia" are taking priority over you?
  • Hunter_91
    edited June 2009
    They basically told me, they said they don't give priority to students from BC because it's assumed that they have family there already, and they don't give priority to students from Canada. But they did tell me that they give priority to international students, and they mentioned China and Hong Kong as the two "Asian" countries that they get a large amounts of applications from.

    The really annoying thing to me is in my letter of acceptance quote on quote "New, full time Canadian undergraduate students from outside British Columbia who meet all applicable deadlines will be given priority access to residence" I called and they told me there was a 50/50 chance of getting in and that I should look for off campus housing. I was just really taken back by how horribly ineffective the departments at SFU are, residence told me that this shouldn't have even been said in my letter because it wasn't true.

    I just want into res because I have no family out there to stay with while I find off campus housing, and at least I know that there is some form of standards in campus housing as opposed to the hovel I might have to make due with. I applied at the end of May, I would have applied earlier but they didn't send my acceptance because of a "clerical" error.

    It must have been my english mark. Far, far too high to make me take those "basic english courses" lol
  • Hunter_91
    edited June 2009
    This happened today.
  • Ether
    edited June 2009
    Well, you could live like a hobo at the school for a few weeks. There are at least 5 or 6 common rooms with sleep-able couches and some of the washrooms have showers.
  • collegestudent
    edited June 2009
    I think international students get priorty b/c they're part of the exchange program. SFU is in a partnership with their schools so they offer easy accomodations to those students, and our exchange students get similar treatment when they go abroad.

    I find alot of students in rez are from Richmond, Surrey, etc. so I don't think they give low priority to BC residences (I'm from BC too and I've been in residence for 3 years and accepted for my 4th).

    I would maybe try to talk to the actual residence coordinator, rather than the people who work at the front desk.
  • Hunter_91
    edited June 2009
    Hmmm... hobo eh? Nah don't think that would work. My parents want to pay the deposit. lol

    I talked to the res cordinator today hopefully I have a answer tommorow.
  • anonymous1
    edited June 2009
    New, full time Canadian undergraduate students from outside British Columbia who meet all applicable deadlines will be given priority access to residence
    As long as you meet the deadlines, you aren't turned away - at least I've never heard of it happening. I applied in March, got an offer at the end of April, and I live an hour and 15 minute bus commute away.

    When I applied for schools before my first year, I applied for residences at the same time. I think you just missed the deadlines. You shouldn't have assumed that it just came with your acceptance into SFU.
  • Hunter_91
    edited June 2009
    Well, I am just really pissed because they screwed up my acceptance average. Then had the audacity to put me on a wait list with an 83 average (they had me down with a 66 for some reason). Then when they clear that up and send me my acceptance package it says I have "priority" then I call and I'm told I have no priority. I get transferred to admissions. Then they tell me they don't know, because housing is a separate department. What annoys me even more is that when I called in November to apply and make sure everything was taken care of they said yes, I asked if I was going to get housing and they told me yes. I came out in April and toured the school and asked again is everything in order, they said yes. This separate application to housing thing is just incredibly frustrating and the Go SFU people are so unhelpful.

    I applied for res the day I got the package I looked for that deadline online and I can't find it. I hadn't been told that I needed to apply separately. In fact the admissions people gave me the impression all I should worry about is my average. The people were rude and unhelpful and just wanted to transfer my call to one department to the other. The fact stands that I'm at my wits end because I declined all my schools here because I was going out to BC. I had res at all four schools back here guaranteed, and I live 15 minutes away from one of them (Waterloo) I can walk there from my house and I was given res.

    Sorry if this sounds angry. I'm just really frustrated.
  • GeoGeek
    edited June 2009
    wtf....i can't believe they did that to you...so...they acknowledged the mistake they made...but wouldnt take any initiative to fix it????

    If you can't make it onto res, maybe start lookin for places in North Burnaby..it's just on the foothills of Burnaby Mtn. Spend a semester or two there and re-apply for res?

    I hope everything works out in the end for you...i'm sure it will tho!
  • Hunter_91
    edited June 2009
    Well it's been resolved now thank god. I have been given a spot in res for next year. I would have looked off campus but I'm very far away, and at least student housing has the same level of mediocracy as everywhere else. I just didn't want to live in a hovel where I have to pay $500-700 a month minimum.

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