Simpson students looking for housing on campus next year should be prepared for changes.

Some will be surprised by the differences in on-campus residences, others will be prepared for them.

“I knew a little about the Kresge and Barker changes, but not the others,” sophomore Taralyn Hoflen said. “It’s about that time to think about where I want to live next year, so I will probably be looking into the changes a little more.”

According to Area Coordinator Nicole Faust, students aren’t thinking about next year’s housing yet.

“I haven’t really heard that much from the students about the changes yet,” Faust said. “Not hearing anything negative about the changes is probably a good thing. We may hear more when students start thinking about next year.”

Like usual, each student will be issued a random number by Residence Life based on his or her class status. Because a lower number is better, students with a GPA of 3.0 or higher will have 25 points deducted from their random number.

This new number becomes the housing lottery number, which will be posted outside Student Development early this month.

In addition to Barker and Kresge Halls becoming coed buildings, modifications are taking place in Picken and Buxton Halls.

Picken will continue to be coed by suite and substance-free, but will be for upper-division students. For the first time it will have a leadership wing. This wing will focus on the theme of leadership and is designed for anyone already involved in leadership activities, those who want to be and those who just want to learn about it.

Picken is also including the option for 12 people to live in the basement and share a community restroom. There is no theme for the floor other than a willingness to live in a larger group setting.

Buxton will continue to be coed by suite and will be substance-free next year. The building houses 134 upperclassmen in suite-style accommodations. For the first time, groups can sign up for eight-person suites or request four-person rooms as in the past.

Also new, every four-person application must have an alternate signer on the housing application. This person would move into the space selected should one of the original four decide to live elsewhere.

Another change is the creation of Worth Global Awareness House. Worth will house international students, students majoring in a foreign language and those going or returning from studying abroad. The house is designed to enable its residents to share and enrich their cultural understanding with other people with similar experiences.

Aside from these changes, resident assistants will become community advisors, and an academic resource coordinator will be added to Barker and Kresge halls to help freshmen transition to college.