PRESS RELEASE FROM UW-EAU CLAIRE:

EAU CLAIRE — As has happened in 12 of the past 15 years, a number of University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students will be housed in area hotels this fall.

The university can accommodate 3,927 students in its residence halls, and requests for housing have exceeded that number by approximately 267 — 41 more than last year, said Charles Major, director of Housing and Residence Life at UW-Eau Claire.

The Plaza Hotel & Suites and Americas Best Value Inn, selected following a bidding process, will house the additional students for the fall semester.

Approximately 162 freshmen, returning and transfer students will live at The Plaza. Another 105 returning and transfer students will live at Americas Best Value Inn.

In the past, an effort was made to avoid placing freshmen in the hotels, but the increase in demand for campus housing has made that difficult to avoid, Major said, noting that students consistently have had a positive experience living in area hotels.

"The hotels are treated as off-campus residence halls that have live-in resident assistants as well as hall directors who oversee the programs in the hotels for students," he said.

Major added that students living in the hotels will have ready access to all UW-Eau Claire campus services, with city buses making stops at the hotels on a 30-minute schedule throughout the day. A university shuttle will be available after the buses stop running until 1 a.m.

It is likely that the majority of students will be housed in UW-Eau Claire residence halls for the second semester.

"In the majority of the past 15 years we've been able to accommodate all students back on campus for the second semester because of the number of on-campus students who graduate at the end of first semester as well as those who study abroad in the second semester," Major said.