A few dozen students lined the sidewalk outside the Cambridge Property Management leasing office Wednesday night for the new first-come, first-serve lease system. Formerly a lottery, students who had specific apartments in mind or just wanted to ensure the opportunity to sign a lease waited up to 24 hours prior to the office opening at 9 a.m. Thursday.
Sophomore learning behavior specialist major Dawnesha Freeman was among the first in line.
“We’ve been here since nine this morning, and we’ve been waiting in shifts,” she said. “Eight of us want to live at the one on Fredonia because it’s a short distance to our sorority house.” Junior learning behavior specialist major Erin Stablein said she lived in St. James last year and was willing to wait for a night to have an apartment next year. “We want a two-bedroom one in the old building because those are the cheapest, and there are only five of those left,” she said. “We want to be guaranteed an apartment. Plus it’s so much cheaper than the Main Street Commons, and I prefer the apartments to dorms.”
Sophomore English and Spanish major Carla Dinnocenzo said she wanted to wait to make sure she got a second floor apartment.
“My roommates were really nervous that we wouldn’t get a four-person apartment, so we got here early,” she said.
Some students said they felt waiting was a waste of their time.
“I want more people to come wait out here so we feel that it’s worth it,” said sophomore accounting major Kelsey Bussone. “I wasn’t expecting to have to come out here but I heard that people were already waiting out here and I started to worry.”
Sophomore nursing major Kylie Hartenberger said she thought there had to be a better way to enact a first-come, first-serve setup, but she preferred it to the lottery system.
“We decided to camp out because there are only so many three-person apartments left and we wanted to get the best deal,” she said.
Bussone said she preferred St. James to an off-campus house because it felt safer to be surrounded
by other Bradley students.
“I’m a little scared to sleep out here, but the police came by and said not to hesitate to call, and there are plenty of people around,” she said.
While most students admitted to staying up all night to wait, sophomore nursing major Megan Hire said she thought it would pay off.
“If we get what we want it will be worth it,” she said.