BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — The official move-in date for all new and returning Western Kentucky University students starts Friday, Aug. 19 and lasts until Monday, Aug. 22. However, incoming freshman and students in special programs can move in early. This year, WKU students displaced by flooding in eastern Kentucky also get that opportunity, and it’s free for them to do so.
Incoming freshman Maggies Blair is one of about 5,000 Hilltoppers moving into WKU’s dorms this fall semester.
“I am moving in early cause I’m in the [Mahurin] Honors College, and we are about to go on a retreat,” Blair told Spectrum News.
The incoming freshman added that moving in early will help relieve stress.
“I think it will be good that I’ll have some time to adjust to living on campus before classes start,” she said.
To move in early, students have to be part of a program that allows them to do so or be an incoming freshman. However, this year students from eastern Kentucky affected by the floods who signed up to live in the dorms can also move in early.
“When we were notified that our potential incoming students were impacted by the flooding in eastern Kentucky, we knew that we needed to take quick action. We wanted to work to serve the members of our Hilltopper family,” Associate Director of Housing and Residence Life Blair Jensen told Spectrum News.
When last year’s historic tornadoes ravaged the area, Jensen said the university also helped students who were affected by the storms.
“We reached out to students that were living locally who could’ve been impacted and provided them with the opportunity to seek refuge on our campus, in our residence halls,” she said.
In 2018, when there was a shooting at Marshall County High School outside of Benton in western Kentucky, WKU also stepped up.
“If there were students coming from those areas to our campus, we tried to be really sensitive in terms of welcoming them and making them feel safe and secure in their living environment,” Jensen added.
It costs aproximately $175 per week to live on campus during the summer, Jensen said, but she added there will be no cost to eastern Kentucky students who move in early.
Even though Blair is moving into the dorms, her parents live in Bowling Green. Last year’s tornado didn’t touch their house, but she said her brother was displaced.
“My brother was living in an apartment that got destroyed, so it affected us a little bit. Luckily, everyone is okay, but I know a lot of people were hurt,” she said.
Blair told Spectrum News 1 that moving in early means she can start making friends right away.
“Just kind of create that community before everything gets crazy and classes start,” she explained.
If students from eastern Kentucky also move in early, she thinks that aspect will help them, too.
“I know it’s a really hard time for them, so I think it’ll be good for them to just get here, and kind of like I said, build relationships in such a stressful time,” she said.
A stressful time can feel a little less hectic when there is a place that wants to make you feel at home.
If you are a WKU student from eastern Kentucky who is living in the dorms this year and want to move in early, just contact WKU’s Housing and Residence Life Office, and they will get you set-up. You can email HRL@WKU.edu or call 270-745-4359.