Is This The End of The AUBG Housing Crisis?

At the end of the 2025/2026 academic year, it was announced that more juniors and seniors would be able to continue living on-campus.

For the first time in nearly 4 years, AUBG students will no longer be forced to find off-campus accommodation after their sophomore year. 

 

Context

The idea of juniors and seniors living off campus first came during the housing crisis of Fall 2022. Ilko Drenkov, the Residence Life Director, suggested it as a way of getting more rooms available to the new students, who were left living in a hotel. 

During the following Spring ‘23 semester, the university officially changed the room assignment system from being based on seniority to prioritizing younger students.  Ever since, junior and senior students are assigned rooms last - after freshmen and sophomores have been allocated a room. 

As a result, fewer and fewer older students stay living on campus. As a result, according to Ilko Drenkov, only 35 juniors and seniors living on campus for this academic year.

 

The Change

The change comes as the two new wings of Skaptopara 3 are in their final construction stages. They  will be completed by next semester. “We are able to increase the total number of residents from 700 to above 1000, so we are adding 310 new beds,” Drenkov said. 

This development will not change the privileges given to freshmen and sophomores, but will give more possibilities for housing to future juniors and seniors. 

“In the Fall, we will be able to accommodate 250 juniors and seniors,” Drenkov assured. This will mean a sevenfold increase from this year to the next one.

Rooms will still be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. If full capacity is reached, preference will be given to international students, because having an address at Skaptopara makes it easier for them to get a residency. ResLife claims full capacity will not be reached, and everyone will get the room they want.

 

Students Reactions

This news was important, but was the student body informed about it? 

The first email students received for the room registration included a schedule. It shows who and when would be able to apply for a room and the deadline for application was April 23. This email does not mention that there would be more rooms for juniors and seniors.

The email sent by ResLife to all students, Personal Archive.

Elitsa Yakimova, a sophomore student, says that she tried her luck and applied for a room, despite knowing about the unwritten rule. That is how she became one of the 250 juniors and seniors who will be living on-campus next academic year.

Not many people did the same as her, so ResLife sent out a second email where they extended the deadline for room registration by 3 days, until April 26.  It was announced that more rooms were available because of the Skapto 3 enhancement. 

Second email by ResLife, Personal Archive

This is when sophomore Maria Bikova also filled out the application and got the room and roommate she wanted. 

“I thought ResLife would reject me immediately, and I was scared even to try because I didn’t want to get out of the situation without housing”, she shared. She was also surprised by how easy the process was and how fast she was assigned a room. 

“On the Skapto, there is a great spirit, you can always find someone to talk to”, Maria said.  

“It's closer to AUBG facilities”, Elitsa added. 

Not everyone took advantage of the new rooms. 

Pavla Angelova, also a sophomore, found an apartment before the announcements by ResLife. She shared that she had heard rumors about the possibility of more rooms, but without official information, she proceeded with finding off-campus housing. 

“Honestly, I thought that I would be upset (about leaving Skapto), but I’ve been feeling pretty good being independent,” Pavla said. She added that earlier official information about the room number increase would not have changed her mind. 

“I do think that it would have been less stressful for some people if they knew that they could stay in Skapto if they did not want to find an apartment”, Pavla elaborated.

 

Next Steps

The next logical question is what is going to happen when the next, even bigger classes come in. Ilko Drenkov explained that keeping more senior students on campus will be a long-term practise. Crucial for the possibility of this will be the new strategic plan of AUBG and how many new students they will want to attract. 

For now, there are 400 beds reserved for the Class of 2030, so we hope no one will be living in a hotel next year. To ensure that, Drenkov concluded “We will be more precise with data later on.”

 

 

Edited by Kostadin Dimitrov and Kaloyan Ivanov

 

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