A flood of students will be exiting university housing by 6 p.m. Friday because, for the next five weeks, all dormitories with the exception of University Village will be closed.
For some students, like some of the three percent of students who come from out of state, leaving Chico may not be an option.
There is only had one parent this year concerned about her child needing to vacate the building, said David Stephen, director of university housing and food services. Housing tries to avoid these worries by alerting students and parents about the exact times and dates of closings two weeks in advance through fliers, e-mails and letters.
Students staying in Whitney, Lassen, Shasta, Mechoopda, Konkow or Esken halls may find themselves in a tough spot over winter break if they have nowhere to spend the holidays.
They are advised when applying for housing, if it will be difficult to get home for vacations, they should apply to live in University Village, which is open without interruption, Stephen said.
Reasons for hall closings are based on financial reasons among others.
"We don't have it in our budget - the cost to cover having all buildings open all the time," Stephen said. "And there's personnel cost.
Student well-being is of the utmost importance in the closings decision.
"We can't have students in the building unsupervised," he said. "Our first priority is the health and safety of the students we serve."
Freshman Eli Gibbs is looking forward to the five-week break - a time he plans to use to catch up with old friends.
"It'll give me an excuse to move back home for a while," Gibbs said. "It's always nice to see everybody."
Freshman Jenna Angelo spent the full 10 days of Thanksgiving break at her home in Manteca.
She had fun spending time with friends and family, whom she had not seen since a trip home in September, she said.
Though some students need to stay in Chico for convenience reasons, five weeks of time at home gives some a reason to wish for somewhere else to stay.
"It's fun to go home and see everybody I missed," Angelo said. "But after a while I'll probably start to miss all of the excitement of Chico."
Kelsey Eidbo can be reached at keidbo@theorion.com
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