Campus grapples with lack of rooms for new students

Hundreds placed on wait-list for beds as Guelph accused of 'over-recruitment'

- KRISTIN RUSHOWY

• $21,000 Cost of rent for 12 months, signed by one Toronto-area mother

• $10,500 Amount students can pay up to for student residence for one year at Guelph University

Families are furious and accusing the University of Guelph of a “bait and switch” and a “cash grab” after the school boosted enrolment when there weren’t enough residence beds, leaving more than 1,300 incoming first-year students scrambling to find a place to live.

The situation has caused such an uproar that even the mayor of Guelph has weighed in, accusing the university of “over-recruitment” and calling the situation “completely unacceptable” — but the school says it was caught off-guard after more students than expected accepted admission offers for this fall.

“I am quite disappointed with what may occur if solutions are not immediately found, not only for the impacts to first-year students but to the greater Guelph community with the planned over-recruitment tactic employed by the university … the ripple effects will be considerable and compounding for our community for years to come,” Mayor Cam Guthrie said in a public rebuke of the school.

“It is completely unacceptable.”

The university said it does not guarantee a spot in residence for first-year students, but parents say school representatives — at the universities fair, during tours, and in offers of admission — repeatedly indicated there would be no problem accommodating everyone, and touted a housing report it commissioned that said the same.

“It feels almost like bait and switch,” said James Clarke, whose daughter is near the bottom of the wait-list for a spot in residence.

While the university says it began communicating with families in April about possible bed shortages, dozens of parents who contacted the Star said it wasn’t until last week that it was confirmed.