The Department of Residence Life is looking into alternatives for housing the midyear Class of 2013 amid concerns that the University budget won't be able to cover the usual renovations of a dorm for the midyear class, Co-director of Residence Life Jeremy Leiferman said. "It seems that, at this point, the University is not able to commit funds to renovate the buildings next fall, so we're trying to [figure out] what we can do to accommodate that student group," he said.

However, Vice President for Campus Operations Mark Collins told the Justice in an e-mail that a decision has not yet been made regarding renovating a dorm for the 2013 midyear class.

He wrote that he was "not aware of any budgetary concerns" with regard to the 2013 midyear class. Collins wrote that his "assumption is that there will be space [in either a fully renovated dorm or another living space on campus] to house the midyear class."

Leiferman told the Justice in an e-mail that he discussed the information about the budget for renovations with his professional staff and a few student committees.

Collins wrote that he was not aware that any decisions had been made with regard to how the capital budget, which pays for renovations, will be used next year. "Having said that, I do know that the University needs significantly more work than the capital budget will be able to provide for. ... Therefore priorities will have to be set and only then would I be able to tell . whether or not a residence hall renovation was to happen," he wrote.

Leiferman said it is unlikely that the University will leave a building empty for the fall semester so that it is available for midyears in the spring.

Leiferman explained that keeping a dorm empty for the fall is impossible because "it becomes a loss of revenue for the University, [and] why would we allow an empty building to sit [as opposed to being occupied or renovated] while we're tripling up students in other buildings and overoccupying rooms when we have all these vacant spaces?"

Leiferman said he did not want to comment on details of early discussions of other options while they were still ongoing and could not say which building would be renovated if the funds were available.

Renovations are currently underway in Usen for the 2012 midyear class. Sheffres and Gordon in North Quad and Deroy and Renfield in Massell Quad have already been renovated for the past four midyear classes, respectively. According to Collins, past renovations have cost approximately $1 million each.

Last year, there were concerns that funds would not be available to renovate a dorm for the midyear Class of 2012.

Last November, Collins said he doubted funds for renovating a building for that midyear class would be available because the University planned to spend up to $1 million to install sprinklers in the Charles River Apartments. In the spring the University decided to spend the $1 million on renovating Usen rather than installing the sprinklers.

Housing for the midyear Class of 2011 was also tight because there were 91 midyears, and last year's renovated dorm, Deroy, could only house 78 students. Some midyear students lived in other dorms in Massell Quad.

The first midyear class in 2004 did not live together but was dispersed throughout campus where there was space. A member of that class, Brian Paternostro '08, told the the Justice last fall that "we lived wherever there was space. I think my class had a more awkward integration into the Brandeis community."

The University instituted the policy of housing the midyears together in a renovated dorm after such student complaints. "I think overall it's a good idea [to have a midyear dorm] because you kind of go in together as a class. It would be a lot harder to form relationships with people if you're in a building with people who have already been at school for a semester," midyear Anna Wood '09 told the Justice last semester.