MIDTOWN — Dozens of NYU students are starting their school year in style after the university put them up in a Midtown hotel.
Between 40 and 60 students checked into the Affinia Hotel at West 31st Street and Seventh Avenue Sunday after the school failed to secure them permanent housing in time for the start of the school year, NYU’s student newspaper, Washington Square News, reported.
"We have a kitchen and double beds. It's a lot better than them saying we have nowhere to go and making us find our own place to live," sophomore Rob Welner was quoted as saying.
Tom Ellett, associate vice president for student affairs, told the paper students, who were not eligible for guaranteed housing because they signed up late or lived elsewhere last year, are expected to be placed permanently within the next four weeks.
"Our placement of these students in a hotel is an effort by the university to try to assist students who might otherwise show up for the start of the semester without secure housing arrangements," he reportedly said.
The university is also housing eight freshmen in the closer Greenwich Hotel, the paper reported. Ellett hopes those students will receive permanent assignments in about a week.
But don’t think the students are all flying high.
While they have full access to the hotel’s fitness center, free Metrocards and housekeeping twice a week, the paper reported that all NYU res hall rules apply at the Affinia, which is also housing several university staff.
This is also not the first year that NYU students have been put up at the hotel. Last year, 38 students were temporarily placed at the Affinia, the paper said.
A spokesman for the university and a spokeswoman for the hotel did not immediately return calls for comment.
