After announcing Summer B classes will be held online, UF canceled Summer housing agreements as well.
Incoming freshmen who paid their Summer B rent in advance will be refunded and there will be no cancellation fees, UF Housing and Residence Education wrote in an email to affected students on Monday.
Although the email to incoming freshmen only discusses Summer B housing, UF Housing’s spokesperson Sara Tanner wrote in an email that they will not be issuing Summer contracts at all.
Students with three-term contracts will now have Fall and Spring agreements, their roommate groups will not be affected and they will be given the option to select from all available residence halls for their terms, the email read.
Once the cancellation is processed, students will receive a confirmation email and will not need to make additional refund requests, the email read.
Traditional residence halls will not be issuing contracts, but students with “extenuating circumstances” who may need to stay on-campus will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, Tanner wrote.
Housing staff reached out directly to students who live at Cypress with mobility impairments to adapt their needs for the Summer, Tanner wrote. So far, four students have asked for accommodations at Cypress as of Monday afternoon.
“We understand some of our current students who planned to live on-campus this Summer may have extenuating circumstances where they would need to remain on campus,” Tanner wrote.
The decision not to offer Summer contracts in traditional dorms was news to Gerry Altamirano, the assistant dean and director of UF’s Disability Resource Center, when he began to receive emails from concerned students and family members about it last Tuesday.
He could not initially provide information surrounding the decision, he wrote, even though the center is heavily involved with disabled students who live in Cypress Hall.
“We work closely with the first floor Cypress residents who are DRC students and rely on the access features of their rooms,” he wrote.
There seemed to be “premature messages” sent to Cypress students regarding housing options, he wrote while referring to several students who will remain in Cypress, as it has since become clear that they will be able to stay during Summer.
The policy may change in the future, Tanner wrote, depending on how the response to the virus needs to adapt.
“We will continue to work with students regarding their individual needs,” she wrote. “Some of our current residents will have Summer housing needs, and we will work to support those to the best of our ability.”
Contact AJ Bafer at abafer@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @ajbafer.
Freshmen Feriha Bilgen, biology major, and Alyssa Sicard, art major, study in their dorm room after their classes on the second day of the Fall 2011 semester.
