Housing issues persist at CAU

As some students find dorms, others remain perplexed or just leave.

After a rocky start to the semester that may have affected about 150 Clark Atlanta University students, some formerly dormless students have been assigned rooms.

Students were told Wednesday evening that all freshmen and sophomores who met enrollment requirements had been assigned housing by 5 p.m., but it is unclear how many students still needed rooms Thursday.

The university has not responded to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s specific questions on the matter.

CAU, which requires freshmen and sophomores to live on campus, said earlier this week it had housing for all students “who are financially enrolled,” yet many students said they were turned away despite being financially enrolled.

Sophomore Asma Alamin, who thought she’d secured campus housing in April but didn’t have a place to stay Wednesday, said the school resolved her housing issue late that day.

CAU’s memo said students in temporary campus housing had to meet enrollment obligations by Thursday to get a dorm.

“In addition, we are working with upperclassmen seeking housing to complete the financial enrollment process,” the statement said.

The 126-acre university has an undergraduate enrollment of 3,093, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“They’re saying that there’s no housing available and that everyone will have to resort to off-campus housing, which is a problem,” student Kerrington Griffin told Channel 2 Actions News reporter Rikki Klaus earlier this week. The station, which received photos and video showing crowded lines at the student center, said about 150 students were awaiting information on Monday.

Nicole Redd, the mother of a would-be student, said she felt “bamboozled” after driving last week from Baltimore, Maryland, to a CAU event welcoming the new class. Her daughter did college tours in high school and “something sparked her interest” in CAU, Redd said.

The mom and daughter came to Atlanta knowing housing was an issue, but Redd said they were reassured it’d be taken care of. Once here, Redd said she was told there was a discrepancy with her daughter’s financial aid and that they didn’t have housing for her.

Unable to get the issues straightened out, she and her “devastated” daughter returned home. Redd said her daughter, Trinity, is now looking to enroll in other colleges.

The housing issues come as CAU participates in a year-long celebration of its 30th anniversary, an event that includes a $1.25 million scholarship fundraising campaign and a national tour by CAU President Ronald A. Johnson to discuss the university’s vision.

The tour kicked off last weekend in Martha’s Vineyard, and was attended by people such as journalist Gayle King, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, who recently won the Democratic nomination for Georgia’s top office.