NYU announced sweeping changes to housing for the 2015-16 academic year in anticipation for the application
opening Tuesday.

For the first time, NYU students will be able to live either on the Manhattan or Brooklyn campus. Dorms in Brooklyn cost $4,000 less than living in Manhattan, and are a low-cost option for students who want to live in dorms.

Poly senior Alan Huang said the policy will help bridge the distance between between Washington Square and Brooklyn students.

“The administration probably made this policy change because of the separation between students from Washington Square and Poly students,” Huang said. “There’s still a lot of negative stigma between both groups and administration wants to push the communication and collaboration between both campuses.”

Stern freshman Simon Tesfaiohannes agreed that housing in Brooklyn is a good financial option.

“Living in Brooklyn sounds appealing for obvious financial reasons,” Tesfaiohannes said. “It’s a good opportunity. It provides people with options, which gives more power to the student.”

NYU New York will be a study away option for 150 NYU Shanghai students starting in Fall 2015. This is the first time NYU Shanghai students will be allowed to study away in New York, as the portal campus was first launched three years ago.

While the Hayden project will be finished in August, the combination of incoming transfer students and study away students from NYU Shanghai and NYU Abu Dhabi has created the need for additional housing space.

NYU plans to renew its contract with Affinia Manhattan, allowing 160 to 190 students to live in a hotel during the fall semester. Students living in the hotel will be given MetroCards, but unlike last semester they will not receive priority for study away. Last semester NYU offered housing spaces in three Affinia hotels and had to provide incentives to attract more students.

Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Ellett said all students, including students at NYU Shanghai, NYU Abu Dhabi, Poly and Washington Square, will be given equal opportunity in choosing their housing options.

“The NYU Shanghai, the NYU Abu Dhabi and the Brooklyn students are all interspersed with the NYU Washington Square students, so they get their number at a similar time to when everyone else gets their number,” Ellett said. “There is no differentiation, we are one institution.”

Students on the Inter-Residence Hall Council redesigned the housing application, which is available Tuesday.

Ellett said the university bears no responsibility over the creations of the room selection process. He added that students should direct their concerns about the housing selection process to the IRHC.

“If the students are unhappy with the system, it’s the students who created it,” Ellett said. “Not you the students, but the student government. If people are unhappy with the system, they need to go to the IRHC and tell them how they could change it, if they aren’t happy. It’s not us, we administer the student’s process that they wanted in place, and that’s kind of how we do things right now.”

University Residence Hall will once again admit both freshmen and upperclassmen, while Palladium Residence Hall will only be available to upperclassmen.

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Mar. 3 print edition. Email Marita Vlachou at [email protected].