As several first-year students across the country begin to move into their respective university residences, 64 of them at the University of Guelph will be living in a nearby hotel for the year, according to the Guelph Mercury.
Due to a 10.1 per cent increase in students who accepted their admission offers from 2010, the students will have to live in a Best Western hotel this year.
According to hotel manager, Paresh Raja, regular guests will still be welcome to stay at the Best Western, the Mercury reported.
However, part of the hotel will undergo changes in order to accommodate the students. Rooms featuring two beds and a washroom will be designated for them in a two-story wing, to be called Brock House, according to the Mercury.
“We are sort of swimming in our success,” Brenda Whiteside, associate vice-president of student affairs, told the Mercury. “We had more students than we had beds.”
Whiteside said that costs to convert the hotel wing into a pseudo-residence were not significant. Students living in the hotel during the eight months will pay the university, which has a residence guarantee policy, its standard double-room rate of $5,640.
“I think it will work well,” she said. “It’s the first time we’ve done it, but it’s coming together.”
