Over the summer, graduate student Wilford Adjei felt hopeless about his housing situation in Washington. To him, rent was too high, and finding a suitable place seemed impossible. Then, he got an email from Housing and Residence Life promoting the chance for graduate students to live on campus.
Adjei, an international student from Ghana studying finance, said he was feeling overwhelmed by the housing market and had no other options left.
“This was my last resort,” Adjei said.
This year, American University offered on-campus housing to graduate students in Letts Hall, a dorm traditionally occupied by freshmen.
However, university housing organizations like Housing and Residence Life, say they are uncertain whether this will become a lasting trend.
Elizabeth Deal, assistant vice president and deputy chief communications officer at the Office of Communications and Marketing, said that Housing and Residence Life, which manages on-campus housing options, oversees residence hall operations and provides resources and programming, had occupancy that allowed the university to offer housing options to interested graduate students.
“This academic year, Housing & Residence Life had occupancy, which allowed the university to offer housing options to interested graduate students toward the end of summer,” Elizabeth Deal, assistant vice president and deputy chief communications officer at the Office of Communications and Marketing, said in an email to AWOL.
She said HRL staff is unsure if this will continue in future semesters.
“While this is not something we can guarantee in the future, it was a unique opportunity based on current availability,” Deal said.
According to Ava Falkenrath, president of AU’s Residence Hall Association, the organization responsible for creating a unified point of communication between residential students and the larger university community, this decision was not consulted with them.
“It’s not something we were consulted on,” Falkenrath said in an email to AWOL.
HRL promoted a list of other off-campus housing opportunities for graduate students over the summer, according to Adjei. The list did not include on-campus options. HRL gave the option for graduate students to live in Letts for the first time in the summer email, according to Adjei.
After receiving interest from graduate students, HRL staff sent another email, which AWOL obtained from Adjei, indicating that those who complete their housing application would receive an assignment for a spot in Letts Hall.
Washington College of Law student Rayan Benikhlef decided to live in Letts after realizing that living in an apartment meant living too far away from campus.
“I didn’t want to come at first, because I already found an apartment, so I moved into my apartment, but it was too far from school,” Benikhlef said.
Benikhlef said he learned about housing in Letts through his advisor.
“There was some availability left, and I was like ‘Okay, I want this,’ and it was fine,” Benikhlef said.
Both Adjei and Benikhlef said they enjoy the proximity to campus, which allows them to easily get to class and engage with AU’s community.
“It gives you the opportunity to always be early in class,” Adjei said “You don’t have to go through traffic or the stress of catching a train or a bus.”
Adjei emphasized the positive impact of this convenience.
“I have not had any stressful days coming to class or going to class,” Adjei added.
The floors of Letts Hall, a traditional residence hall that houses over 600 students, include kitchens, seating, study space and laundry machines, according to American University’s website.
The graduate students live alongside first-year students, sharing amenities like a communal lounge, kitchen and bathrooms, according to Benikhlef.
The same website page lists Letts’ student population for this year as “TBD.” However, one of the three halls that make up the Letts-Anderson-Centennial quad, Anderson Hall, explicitly says that only freshmen are housed there.
Adjei said there is a divide between undergraduate and graduate students, pointing out that their interactions usually show the different experiences and ages of each group.
“I think we don’t really have some common ground to talk about,” Adjei said.
Benikhlef said he has interacted with two first-year students.
“I knocked on my freshman neighbors’ door at 2 a.m. to ask them to turn down their loud music, and they apologized,” Benikhlef said. “Another time, a freshman took my spot at the sink, but we ended up chatting, and I gave her some law school advice.”
While graduate students aren’t connecting with first-years in Letts, they are good friends with other graduate students, according to Benikhlef. He said the graduate students are all friendly with each other, often cooking dinner, hanging out in the lounge and studying together.
“We all come together in the kitchen every night and every lunchtime, and it’s cool,” Benikhlef said. “We watch games – football games – and we enjoy time together.”
This sense of community extends to their dorm rooms, too, as both Benikhlef and Adjei have graduate student roommates. Adjei said having a roommate has improved his time in Letts.
“Even though we have so many differences, coming together in the same room, we’ve been able to put aside our differences and live together as roommates,” Adjei said. “And we share a lot of things, we share ideas, we talk together and have fun.”
