By KRISTI SMIT
Finding housing for Education Week for those without reservations could turn out to be a lesson in planning ahead — learned the hard way.
On-campus residence halls have been booked since May for the week-long learning experience that usually attracts between 30,000-35,000 people to BYU’s campus.
“We will house around 3,400 people,” said Diane Adams, who manages on-campus housing registration for the conference through Student Auxiliary Services.
“We fill up every possible bed — it’s that popular,” said David Hunt, Director of Housing Services at BYU.
“We have people asking for a place in the halls as soon as we send out the info,” Hunt said. “We start planning for next year right after Education Week.”
Conference goers are housed at Deseret Towers, Helaman Halls, Heritage Halls, and the Foreign Language Housing Complex, where about 12 apartments have been allocated to help relieve some of the housing shortage, Adams said.
“We send early info at the end of February and the first of March, and then a later mailing around April 24 and we usually fill up in May,” Adams said. Then, as people cancel their reservations, people from the waiting list replace the remaining open spaces. Adams said the waiting list varies from year to year, but is somewhere between 100-150.
Local hotels and motels have also been booked far in advance of the conference.
“We had people booking for this last year,” said Yasmin Samahon, reservations desk attendant at the Provo Park Hotel. The hotel also has a waiting list.
Only about four hotels in Provo still had rooms available during Education Week at press time.
The Best Value Western Inn, City Center Motel, Marriott Fairfield Inn, and Hotel Roberts all had rooms available. The Homestead Resort and the Inn on the Creek, both located in Midway, also had lodging available.
Adams said that construction on campus hasn’t significantly reduced the space available in on-campus residence halls, although Hinckley Hall in Heritage Halls is closed for year-long construction. Since the construction has been on-going, she said, they have been able to plan around it.
The only change construction will make for people living in the on-campus housing is to their meal plan options. For 1996, those living in the residence halls will only be able to use their meal plan options in either the Morris or Cannon Centers, since the Cougareat in the Wilkinson Center is under construction.
The temporary Cougareat II isn’t equipped to handle the extra influx of people the residence halls would bring, said Adams
