It’s been almost five years since the newest residence hall, Soundview Hall, was opened. Now, the University of New Haven is looking to expand housing on campus by adding a new residence hall next fall.

The new residence hall will house over 300 students, including Resident Assistants, and will incorporate over 200 parking spots. The building will also contain a dining hall, such as the one in Bergami Hall, a home-in theater, and more offices for students to hold their organizations’ meetings.

The building is currently under construction, lending to early concerns that it would not be ready for its anticipated fall 2014 opening.

“It’s on schedule,” said Louis Annino, the Associate Vice President for Facilities. “We’ve had incredibly good weather to work with and so far it’s good. Winter is going to be a challenge, but we are going to keep working.”

So far, the new residence hall does not have a name, but the Office of Residential Life is having a contest for students to name the building so they can be part of this change.

The residence will be designated for the incoming freshmen. However, there are more big changes coming to the housing system.

Freshmen housing options for next year will include not only the new building, but also Bixler, Bethel, and Bergami Halls. Short from the list is Botwinik and CampDuRu (Campbell, Dunham, and Ruden Halls). That’s because they will all be upperclassmen housing.

Sophomores, juniors and seniors will have four more residence halls to choose from when selecting housing for next fall semester.

A tentative listing of residence hall options for the 2014-2015 academic year was released last week, listing Dunham, Ruden, Campbell and part of Sheffield as possible upperclassmen housing options.

The complete list goes as follows: Freshmen–”’New Hall,” Bixler, Bethel, Bergami. Sophomores: Botwinik, Bergami, Sheffield, Winchester. Juniors/Seniors: Dunham, Ruden, Campbell, Sheffield, Main Street, Forest Hills, Savin Court, and Soundview.

According to Nicole McGrath, the Associate Dean of Residential Life, buildings that will have two different years occupying them will either be separated by wings or by floors.

Soundview Hall will remain a 50/50 split, half reserved for juniors and the other half for seniors.

Offering additional housing for juniors and seniors gives upperclassmen more of a chance to live on campus next year. McGrath expressed how this will eliminate a few people from the waiting list.

One unconfirmed housing choice is Regency.

“We learned the students are most unsatisfied with the arrangements at Regency,” McGrath said. Therefore, Regency is still up in the air for housing selection.

Since this announcement, students have expressed mixed reactions to the new setup.

Freshman Erica Naugle sees the addition of Bergami and Botwinik to sophomore housing options as a relief.

“I think it’s better that we have more living options because we [my roommates] were all concerned about getting living space on campus,” she said.

With the additional on-campus options, Naugle also said she would definitely consider applying for housing again once junior and senior year come along.

However, even with the new options, not all students are pleased with the university’s rearrangement.

“It’s unfortunate because I feel like they cater to the incoming freshmen, not the people who are already here,” said sophomore Annalisa Berardinelli. She added that upperclassmen usually get the short end of the stick, with older buildings like Ruden and Dunham, while freshmen get an entirely new building.

Another concern of Berardinelli’s, shared by other students in the past, is having to pay for a meal plan in a room equipped with a full kitchen.

“My personal concern is getting Forest but still having to pay for a meal plan when you have a full kitchen,” she said. “I’m looking to save money. If I didn’t get Soundview next year, I’d live off campus.”

Despite this, many students are glad the university is finally addressing students’ concerns about housing.

Sophomore Elissa Sanci said she likes what UNH is doing for its upperclassmen next year.

“I think that this switch will help solve some of the housing problems. Personally, I’d like to live on campus for as long as possible, and now UNH is making it easier to do so, which relieves a lot of the pressure and stress of housing selection,” she said.

Sophomores Frankie Roman and Brandi Rodriguez agreed that having more housing options for upperclassmen will give them a better opportunity to interact with the campus.

“I’m happy I won’t have to worry about housing,” junior Athena Rosario said. Rosario stated that these changes to housing make her want to come back next year now that she knows more options are available to her.

She’s crossing her fingers for either Soundview or Dunham.

“I think it’s better than last year, and I hope it’ll get better,” she added.

For more information of the housing selection, stop at the ORL office, or to take a look at the construction of the new residence hall live go to http://www.newhaven.edu/about/departments/office-facilities/new-residence-hall/.