Last week, the Student Government Association (SGA) sent out an email announcing a new housing system that would be put into place for the Fall 2019 semester.

In the past, housing points were based off GPA, the amount of credits completed, community service, resident hall involvement, and campus involvement. Moving forward, housing points will only be based on GPA and credits completed.

The old system gave students who might not have the best grades a chance at living in one of the newer residence halls by counting their involvement in the Pace community. The new system will not be so forgiving to students who are struggling in the classroom, unless they have completed a great amount of credits.

According to Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President Chrystal Fermin, the decision to switch the system was in the works for a while.

“The decision was brought up last year and has been an idea for the past few years,” Fermin said. “This is the first year the decision was made to implement these changes and see the results from it.”

The old system proved to be too confusing to a lot of students. According to Fermin, students also had complaints about the system being partly based on campus involvement, when many people do internships or have off campus jobs.

“A lot of students were confused on what the point system came from,” Fermin said. “Even after numerous explanations they did not understand how to gain housing points. Upper class students were upset with the system because of the time commitment, where most students are occupied with internships, work, etc. There were a lot of complaints about the old system.”

Chelsea Covino is one student who had questioned the old system when her application to get into Elm Hall was denied.

“I was upset because I do well in all my classes and work really hard for a good GPA,” Covino, a sophomore, said. “To me, it felt like not getting into Elm meant that my hard work and grades didn’t matter, so I’m happy about the new housing point system.”

Swiping in at events to gain housing points is also no longer an option. According to the Associate Director of Residential Life, Nilam Kotadia, Residential Life and Housing decided that since it was not possible for every student to be able to participate in on campus events, housing points will no longer be partially based on it.

“We realized that participating in clubs and organizations or in the residence halls is not feasible for every residential student at Pace,” Kotadia said. “Many students have outside commitments, like internships, practicums, preceptorships, jobs, or family obligations and do not always have the time to participate in clubs or organizations. Those students were negatively impacted by the previous iteration of housing points.”

The class of 2022 will have less credits than the rest of the student body, so it is possible that getting into a highly sought after residence hall will prove more difficult for them. They can still be accepted with high GPA’s.

“Freshman do not need to worry about this new system due to their credits,” Fermin said. “They will still be able to rank their living preferences and apply to any housing.”