Due to expected demand for on-campus apartment complex Vista del Sol, the deadline to renew leases and receive priority passed last week.
Vista del Sol, a privately-owned apartment complex on the Tempe campus that opened in the fall, is already accepting applications for next year, and Oct. 15 was the last day for current residents to renew their lease and receive priority.
Vista del Sol resident Kim Kukurba, a chemistry sophomore, said she had no problem with renewing early.
She renewed her lease in early October. She said living at Vista del Sol is convenient, which is the main reason she renewed.
“I wish that they had given us more time to think about it, but it wasn’t so bad,” Kukurba said. “I think it was fair because there seems to be a demand for living here.”
Kurkaba said that Vista del Sol residents not only get the convenience of living so close to campus, but also amenities like a pool and movie theater.
Applications for Tempe campus residence halls have rolling admissions, which means people can apply at any point, with priority first being given to upperclassmen and current students. The application process will end when the residence halls have been filled.
“Current residents in facilities for upper-class students — Cholla, University Towers and Vista del Sol — have a chance to return first, then the available spaces are opened up for other current residents to sign up,” Michael Coakley, associate vice president and executive director of University housing, said in an e-mail.
Once that process is complete, Coakley said, new applications from freshmen, transfers and upperclass students who wish to return to campus housing are assigned.
Dan Shoepe, regional vice president of American Campus Communities, the company that owns Vista del Sol, said the leases were filled last year by December, which is why current residents are encouraged to renew early.
He said the company had received 300 online applications from potential new residents by last week, when Vista del Sol began offering leases to both new and existing residents on a first-come, first-served basis.
“I think we’ll be full by late November, early December at the latest,” Shoepe said.
Communication sophomore Arielle Euringer said she felt pressure to renew her lease after management and student residential advisers knocked on her door and asked if she was renewing.
“I think the whole thing is really bizarre. When I told them I wasn’t renewing my lease, they wanted to know why,” Euringer said. “They were kind of pushy about it.”
Euringer said she is not renewing her lease because she has decided to live in a house next year.
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
