|
GW Law School and GW Housing Programs advertised the Aston, located on 21st Street and New Hampshire Avenue, as the first University-owned residence exclusively for law students. Administrators said in late-February that the building would be available for law students in the fall, but a recent assessment of construction costs required the closing of the building for next year.
This spring, the Law School - expecting the use of The Aston - offered between 60 and 90 incoming students housing scholarships, said Ann Richard, associate dean of Law School Admissions and Finance. This is the first year that the Law School has offered housing scholarships.
Richard said that students with housing scholarships can also choose to take a housing stipend. Incoming students were informed of the change before the first deposit date April 15 so they are not bound to their decision to attend the Law School, one official said.
When the building closes this May, it will also cause increased demand in Columbia Plaza, a privately owned apartment building on 23rd and F streets. Though the University does not own the building, they have an agreement with the owners to allocate more than 200 rooms to students.
Seth Weinshel, assignments director of GW Housing Programs, said displaced students and other law students will have first priority in Columbia Plaza.
"(Demand is) higher because we won't be using the Aston," said Weinshel, referring to Columbia Plaza. "Had you been able to use (The Aston), you wouldn't have had as many going into Columbia Plaza."
Law students always had priority for GW's rooms in the apartment complex, Weinshel said. Though Columbia Plaza often has leftover space for other graduate students and some seniors, the influx of law students means that many other graduate students and seniors will have to seek housing elsewhere.
The only other GW-owned graduate housing on campus is the Hall on Virginia Avenue, which the University offered to graduate students this academic year. The Aston, which was mostly doubles for undergraduates, housed more than 100 law students in singles with kitchens.
