University Struggled to House Students Formerly Abroad

Lower New Townhouses on a sunny day. Photo by Georgina Garcia via Flickr

Studying abroad is the calling card of the typical Marist University student; it’s arguably the school’s most notable strength and is a reason why many students attend. Some even spend all four years away from Poughkeepsie. For those that don’t, though, an unpredictable issue may soil a semester—housing.

Kiki Wiehe ‘26 is one of thousands of Marist students and alumni that have made Florence, Italy a part of their Marist experience. Wiehe’s Italian dreams, however, came crashing down when she arrived back in Poughkeepsie. 

“My experience was bad, but it was different from most people’s because I lived off-campus before I went abroad,” said Wiehe. 

This is a blind spot that the university inexplicably did not cover in pre-departure meetings. 

“The entire discussion was for people that had lived on campus, and that was not made incredibly clear,” said Wiehe.

Florence students from last semester who planned on returning for the spring were given a “mid-year housing form,” according to Wiehe. This form, however, did not accommodate her needs.

Wiehe emailed Housing and Residential Life, and according to her, their comments boiled down to: “Since you lived off-campus, you are ineligible for housing coming back.”

“They ‘fine-printed’ me, too,” said Wiehe, complaining that the department brought up the fine print of the contract she had signed in their defense. 

“They sent me a link for a bunch of apartments off-campus…that’s the most they helped me,” said Wiehe. “The university could’ve been way more involved with this process…a lot of my friends that were on-campus also experienced lack of involvement from [Marist] in helping them figure it out.”

Wiehe mentioned that when she did secure off-campus housing, her landlord told her that Marist used to have “off-campus conventions” where landlords came to the Student Center and had an open house of their living opportunities.

“But now, it’s all in a document they sent me,” said Wiehe, proposing that it would be great if Marist could reinstate those conventions. 

Wiehe recognized that it might be unrealistic for Marist to secure local hotels for emergency housing “considering how small our school is,” but proposed a credit to incentivize current on-campus students to move away. 

“If you live in Poughkeepsie and have a way to get to campus, [maybe the school should] give you $800 if you move off-campus,” said Wiehe.

“I also think that this issue spans further than just housing,” mentioned Wiehe. “Say you have 500 people coming home from abroad and 300 live on campus… what about parking? I’m lucky because I have a car, but what about the people who were forced off-campus without a car? Now they don’t have a way to get to class.”

The university’s position, however, makes things much clearer and settles some of the fears and beliefs of the student body. 

“While students may request roommates or specific accommodations, limited vacancies—due to students going abroad, graduating, or moving off campus—mean not all requests can be met. Our team works hard to place students in the best available housing for their Priority Points, even if it falls outside an area where their classmates live,” said Anthony Proia, director of media relations, on behalf of Marist International Programs. 

Proia remained committed to ensuring clear and helpful information to students.

“We communicated regularly with students abroad during this extended time about the spring housing process, ensuring they understood the steps and addressing the needs of a larger-than-usual returning cohort,” said Proia. He added, “A room selection guide is available on myMarist and in the Housing Portal before and during each housing process.”

Proia recognized the unique challenges that were present with the size of this traveling class but again promoted the fact that everything went smoothly from the school’s perspective.

“While some students may not receive their top choice, we address concerns on a case-by-case basis,” said Proia. “While this can be a challenging process, especially with this year's record fall abroad cohort, we can report we secured on-campus housing for all returning students who previously lived on campus.”

Though the school eventually did its job, cases like that of Wiehe are still left feeling jaded.

“This housing issue really did have a domino effect,” said Wiehe.