The Fall 2024 semester brought a lot of new faces to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. With around 19,200 students, housing is a first-come, first-serve basis. 

In order to accommodate the needs of all UL Lafayette students, the school decided to place many students in rooms in hotels until dorms on campus become available. The girls hotel is the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel and the boys are at the co-ed dormitory at the Woodspring Suites.The Wingate is located on East Kaliste Saloom Road about 20 minutes from campus. 

The Woodspring Suites are located on Hugh Wallis Road, also about twenty minutes from campus. According to Michelle Spaziante, a freshman psychology major who started off in the infamous hotel, the students at the Wingate receive housekeeping every week, just like regular hotel guests. 

She says that her biggest complaint about living in the hotel was the commute on the bus each day, as it was always crowded and always took longer than it was supposed to. She hated having to stand throughout the bus ride when it was overloaded and then being late to class when it took longer than expected. 

Spaziante lived in a room at the Wingate from the beginning of the fall semester until last Friday when she requested a dorm room on campus. Within a few hours, she had been completely moved out of her hotel room and moved into a dorm room in Baker Hall. 

In most cases, however, the school will send an email to students to inform them that a dorm room has become available on campus. 

This happens when students drop out of UL Lafayette or move into other living arrangements off campus. 

The biggest complaint about living in the Woodspring Suites was once again the shuttles. The problem is the wait time and crowdedness of the buses. 

Another major problem in the Woodspring Suites is that the WiFi is unreliable. 

It reportedly goes out every couple days and does not come back on for two-three days. 

The hotels are a good way for UL Lafayette to provide short term solutions for their students but are not ideal for long term residential living.