California Lutheran University used to have a long and inconvenient process for selecting housing for the upcoming year. However this year they have managed to make the selection process much easier and more efficient.

In years past, students had to gather in a conference hall and sit and wait, for up to an hour, until their number was called to select where they would be living next year. This process meant the student had to be present at the time of selection. This means any student with practice, class or any other commitment during their appointed selection time had to either find a friend willing to take the time to select their housing for them or select their housing at a later time, further limiting their choice of places to live.

However, this year the process is completely different. It is much easier and convenient. Similar to registering for classes, students now select housing on their computers during the appointed time. Students can form roommate groups online with the people they would like to room with. Then, the student with the best selection time logs on and picks the room they wish to live in.

“The online selection process allows for students to navigate the process convenient to them, whether that is at home on their couch or in a different country while studying abroad,” said Assistant Director for Residence Life and Student Conduct Nathan Fall in an email interview.

“It also automatically consolidates rooms based on floor and gender, which hopefully results in more groups getting the hall, maybe not room, of their choice,” Fall said.

Although she thought the new process was less time-consuming than last year’s, freshman Anna Schlosser found the new system to be confusing.

“I didn’t really understand it. It’s a little confusing,” Schlosser said. “It’s just a weird process.”

Although Schlosser was not a huge fan of the process, freshman Zachary Sergey thought more highly of it.

“I found it much easier. They sent me all the emails that told me what to do and it was pretty simple,” Sergey said

I registered today and instead of being an almost two-hour ordeal, it took about three minutes. I was able to log in and select the dorm my roommate and I wanted from the comfort of my dorm.

My concern going into the process was that it might be confusing or I wouldn’t get the room I wanted. Also, during online registration I have had mysterious holds appear on my account and I was worried that something similar might happen while trying to register online. However, nothing that I was worried about came true. The process was simple and smooth, and I was able to find a great room.

Overall, I think that the selection process is so much better than it was before. Even though some people found it a bit confusing, I think it saves enough time to make it worth it.

Cody McElliogott
Staff Writer
Published April 22nd, 2015