Throughout the semester, UCF will collaborate with Orange County health experts and epidemiologists to update its response plan for COVID-19.

Spring 2021 move-in takes place Jan. 7- 10. If students have not already scheduled their move-in appointment, they can do so by��logging into the Housing��Portal and��clicking on the��Spring 2021 Move-in Appointment button under��Housing Quick Links. Once a move-in appointment has been selected, an email will be sent confirming the time and date.��Students��must pre-register online for their required COVID-19 test prior to arriving on campus, which is free during the designated move-in period. Instructions are on the��. Residents who are unable to arrive between Jan. 7-10 must call the COVID line at 407-823-2509 to make alternate testing arrangements, which will be at students’ own expense.

Move-in appointments will be limited by floor and/or community to reduce physical interactions. Residents are encouraged to quarantine for two weeks before their arrival to help reduce chances of exposure to the coronavirus.

During the move-in process, residents must wear face coverings and will be allowed to bring no more than two individuals, who are also asked to wear face coverings, with them for assistance.

Before arriving on campus, it’s important to become familiar with other requirements from UCF Housing, as well as updates to the department’s��. It is very important for students to review the move-in section of the housing website, which will be updated with important information regarding arrival, testing, check-in, unloading zones and overnight parking.

Occupancy | Move-in | Wellness, Safety and Cleaning | Response for Positive Cases��

Occupancy

• Overall occupancy across all UCF Housing and Residence Life units has been reduced. About 7,000 residents will live in Ů��AV properties across the main, downtown and Rosen campuses during Spring 2021.
• As the coronavirus’ impact remains dynamic, Ů��AV is prepared to move to more remote learning and working as needed. However, UCF Housing intends to remain open throughout the��Spring 2021 semester, as long as it is safe to do so.
• Towers at Knights Plaza, NorthView, Rosen Apartments and UnionWest will remain at regular occupancy since the majority of these units offer single bedroom and bathroom units or single bedroom and shared bathroom units.
• Nike, Hercules and Libra communities have converted many of the shared bedrooms to single rooms for reduced occupancy.
• Residents were required to acknowledge they read a housing addendum that outlines responsibilities and requirements, such as maintaining good hygiene habits, physical distancing, wearing a mask when necessary, completing testing as requested and disclosing COVID-19 infection status to , prior to move-in.
• Residents will only have access to the building they are assigned to and service spaces, such as staff offices, laundry rooms and mail centers, affiliated with their buildings.
• Off-campus guests or visitors will not be permitted in any residential buildings after move-in. Residents are allowed to have one guest from their assigned building in their room at a time.
• If residents break any of these and other rules outlined in the addendum, housing staff will prompt them to correct their actions, and if necessary, consequences will be faced through the conduct process. If a resident becomes aware of misconduct they should report it to their RA or community office.
• UCF Housing is working to plan virtual events and potential in-person events that follow physical distancing and safety guidelines.

Move-in

Testing

• Residents must log into the housing portal and click on the Spring 2021 COVID-19 Testing and Move-in button. Once the student selects a move-in appointment they will receive an email. Students must then pre-register online for free COVID-19 testing between Jan. 7-10 prior to their arrival on campus. Residents who have stayed over the winter break will be able to sign up for testing on Jan. 6.��Students who cannot be tested until after Jan. 10 must contact SHS to set up testing, which will be at their own expense, with Aventus BioLabs. Further instructions are on the��.
• If a resident arrives after the published testing hours, they will not be permitted to move into their spring space at their assigned time. They will need to secure housing on their own until they can complete their COVID-19 test with the university.
• COVID-19 testing will be administered by COVID Testing LLC, an Orlando-based company that partners with local labs. This will be a rapid nasal test. Results should be available in 15-20 minutes and will be sent electronically to the student.
• Students on the main campus will need to go to Garage D and precede to the area near Addition Financial Arena for testing. Residents at UCF Downtown and campuses should refer to move-in webpages for information specific to their housing units.��Testing site information for each UCF Downtown and Rosen resident will be communicated to them before arrival.
• Students will be required to show a negative test result before they will be allowed to move into their assigned housing community.
• Students who test positive will be instructed to come back for further testing and will work with SHS to determine a proper course of action. Students may be given the option of quarantining at home or staying in one of the��.

Moving Procedures

• Students and no more than two accompanying helpers should wear face coverings throughout the move-in appointment.
• After testing, residents who have tested negative should proceed to their campus’ housing station, which is in Garage D on main campus. Students will have to show a negative test result and they’ve completed the COVID Self-Checker before receiving a wristband that will allow them to check into their assigned housing community.
• Once at their assigned housing community, students will complete check-in, have their UCF ID encoded and move into their rooms. New residents will also be provided��one free, reusable face covering for use throughout the semester.
• After move-in there will be a virtual community meeting for residents to meet their resident advisors and neighbors and learn about upcoming events in UCF Housing and on campus.
• More information about move-in can be found��UCF Housing will also provide residents with other details regarding move-in appointment sign-up and procedures via email.

Wellness, Cleaning and Safety

• Residents must complete the COVID Self-Checker each day they are in their on-campus residence. The COVID Self-Checker can be accessed through the or .
• Throughout the semester if a resident begins to experience symptoms or comes in contact who someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, they should contact the��UCF COVID Line at 407-823-2509��to determine a course of action.
• Consistent with other return to campus plans, high-touch point and communal spaces cleaning will be increased. Wellness dividers will be used in community offices and administrative spaces where students may need to visit in-person.
• Housing facilities staff have completed required�� COVID-19 training and will complete daily self-assessments before reporting to work.
• Requirements such as physical distancing and face coverings in common areas will be enforced.
• Air filters in UCF’s residential units have been upgraded to MERV 9, which captures bacteria, spores and viruses.

Response for Positive Cases

• Throughout the semester, residents who test positive for COVID-19 should stay in their room and contact the��UCF COVID Line at 407-823-2509. A UCF Housing staff member will contact them with additional instructions. UCF staff will also enter their unit to determine if decontamination or disinfection needs to occur.
• COVID-19 positive residents will be required to isolate for the required time recommend by the UCF COVID Line or until they receive medical clearance to return to their housing assignment.
• More than 150 beds on university-managed properties will be reserved for students who test positive or are presumptive positive and need to quarantine. Students should have a plan for isolating off campus in the event they test positive. Space will be limited on campus.
• UCF Dining has developed a wellness plan, which includes a continental breakfast, a boxed lunch and hot dinner, for students in isolation. The plan will automatically be available to students who have signed up for a meal plan and will be available for purchase by others.

As COVID information is rapidly evolving, residents are encouraged to check the for the most updated information. For the latest information about returning to campus, visit UCF’s��coronavirus�����Ի���Returning to UCF��websites. Students, faculty, staff and visitors will be required to complete the��COVID Self-Checker��— available via the����or online — each day before arriving to campus.

As UCF continues to enhance its safety measures during the pandemic, here are a few new methods being implemented this spring to help protect Knights.

Specialized Reminders Through UCF Mobile

To remind the campus community to help keep every Knight healthy, UCF will begin sending messaging to app users in heavily populated areas. Specialized hardware will be utilized to trigger the messaging, which will include reminders, such as “Armor Up” or “Complete the COVID Self-Checker.”

Housing Move-in Testing

UCF Housing residents, both those returning and new, must complete COVID-19 testing and receive a negative result before occupying their assigned building. ��AV is partnering with COVID Testing LLC. to conduct free, rapid nasal testing for residents on the main, UCF Downtown and Rosen campuses.

New residents and those who left campus during the winter break must sign up through the for testing and move-in appointments Jan. 7-10. Residents who cannot be tested until after Jan. 10 must contact Student Health Services to set up testing at their own expense with Aventus BioLabs.��Residents who remained in their dorms during the winter break should have completed free COVID-19 testing on Jan. 6, with some exceptions permitted for testing at a later date but before Jan. 10.

At the start of each testing and move-in appointment, students on the main campus should go to the housing station in Garage D before proceeding to testing in front of the Addition Financial Arena. Residents at the UCF Downtown and campuses should check their Housing websites and emails for communication on where to go for testing.

On each campus, residents who test negative will return to their housing station and present their negative test result and a completed COVID Self-Checker in order to receive a wristband that will allow them to check into their assigned housing community. Residents’ UCF IDs will be encoded at their housing community, which will allow them to access their dorm and complete move in.

Students who test positive during move-in testing will undergo additional testing and work with Student Health Services to determine a proper course of action. These students may be given the option of quarantining at home or staying in one of the��.

As COVID information is rapidly evolving, residents are encouraged to check the��for the most updated information.��More information related to move-in and COVID-19 precautions implemented by UCF Housing can also be found on UCF Today.

Wastewater Testing

Ů��AV is implementing wastewater testing on main campus for COVID-19 during spring semester. This testing will be used in dorms to monitor the presence of the coronavirus — which can be detected in human waste up to two weeks after someone has had COVID-19. While the tests won’t be able to determine traces of the virus from specific rooms or floors, they will be able to indicate if the presence of COVID-19 stays the same, increases or decreases in buildings from week to week.

Where and When?

Testing is currently scheduled to cover five UCF residence halls. Samples will be collected Monday through Friday throughout the semester, ideally once a week for the five dorms that will be monitored. Testing frequency may change throughout the semester as necessary.

How?

Chemistry Assistant Professor Melanie Beazley is leading the wastewater collection and testing process. Beazley’s research interest focuses on wastewater and the testing method being used for this project is similar to ones she’s conducted in the past.

“This is an important step for the university to take to continue to strengthen COVID-19 mitigation efforts and to keep making the health and safety of student, faculty and staff a priority,” Beazley says.

While specific testing sites vary in each residence hall, the process will require a pump to be installed at a sewer main for each housing community. These pumps will not interrupt campus activity and will collect multiple samples over a 24-hour period for accuracy.

After samples have been collected, about 1 liter of the water will be filtered and tested using genetic biomarkers identified by the CDC to indicate if and how much of the coronavirus is present. Testing the wastewater samples will typically take up to 24 hours, and up to 48 hours in certain cases.

“When you’re working with water waste you’re working with many pathogens, so from a lab standpoint we have to have all safety practices in place, from wearing face shields, gloves, masks and gowns to how we bleach and clean our surfaces,” Beazley says.

For the latest information about returning to campus, visit UCF’s��coronavirus�����Ի���Returning to UCF��websites. Students, faculty, staff and visitors will be required to complete the��COVID Self-Checker��— available via the����or online — each day before arriving to campus.

Cleaning Practices and Seating Options

In addition to UCF’s pre-COVID extensive sanitation procedures, Dining Services is implementing vigorous cleaning schedules of all high-touch areas such as door handles, counters, tray slides, etc.

Plexiglass dividers have been installed at registers, and employees’ hand-hygiene practices will include more frequent hand washing and glove changes. The commercial dishwashers use cleaning products with the highest levels of efficacy to ensure that dishes, flatware and glasses will be safe to use. Self-service areas will now be staffed with employees to assist diners’ needs.

Students will be able to use some indoor, physically distanced seating eating options. UCF staff has reset indoor dining rooms at Knightro’s, ’63 South, Einstein Bros. Bagels in the Business Administration building, Starbucks and more of its on-campus establishments to practice physical distancing in accordance with university guidelines. In dining halls and Student Union spaces, seating pods will be available for “COVID bubble members” — those who live at the same residence — to eat together.

Per university policy, students must wear their mask when they are not eating or drinking and should be stationary when consuming food.

Outdoor seating is available at Einstein Bros. Bagels in Business Administration, Chick-fil-A in the John T. Washington Center, Chili’s in the Student Union, and Starbucks in Health and Public Affairs. Patio seating is also available on the north side of the Student Union.

Grab-and-Go Meals

Knightro’s and ’63 South have always offered grab-and-go meals and will continue to do so with some modifications.

For breakfast and dinner, students who choose the grab-and-go option will be given a disposable container and will be permitted to enter the dining establishment and select food for themselves.

For lunch — traditionally UCF Dining Service’s peak hours — grab-and-go will consist of a pre-packaged meal to prevent crowding and wait times as much as possible. Daily grab-and-go menus, which will include vegan options, can be viewed ahead of time on UCF Dining’s website, and will also be listed at the restaurant.

There will be a dedicated line at lunch for grab-and-go diners to decrease wait times.

Mobile Ordering

Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of mobile ordering for any UCF Dining establishment through the .

Once on campus, access the app on your phone, navigate to settings and select UCF Campus. Order your meal, select your pickup time and avoid waiting in line.

Knight Cash is accepted as a payment method in addition to credit and debit cards.

Wellness Meal Plans

UCF Dining Services and UCF Housing and Residence Life have partnered to create a meal program in the event a student who lives on campus requires isolation or quarantine.

This program is for students who currently reside in on-campus housing, and can select this meal program when working with their housing representative prior to moving to isolation.��The meals will be safely delivered by Housing and Residence Life once each day.

Wellness Meal Plans include dinner for that day’s delivery, and breakfast and lunch for the following day. Vegan, gluten-sensitive and nut-free options are available. Students who already have purchased a meal plan can opt-in to this program at no additional charge. Students who have not purchased a meal plan will be provided a link from housing to purchase a Wellness Meal Plan.

Where to Find Up-to-Date Information

• which includes hours of operation
• Alerts will post to @UCFDining on social media

In a pre-COVID world, UCF’s main campus is typically flooded during the course of a weekend with thousands of students lugging bedding, appliances, shower caddies and wall décor to their rooms at each of the eight housing communities.

But just like everything else in 2020, the pandemic changed the rules, and move-in for 6,000 students required a complex drive-thru process centralized in parking garages designed to maximize physical distancing.

Chick-fil-A Connection

When April Konvalinka, executive director of housing and residence life at UCF, realized this year’s move-in would need to be especially creative, she looked to a friend — Chick-fil-A franchise owner and operator Jason Barnes — for some guidance. He is a member of the fast food chain’s innovation team, which focuses on operating high-volume drive-thrus efficiently.

His advice helped shape some of the initiatives ��AV implemented. Key among those was identifying the number of stations to help keep traffic moving, ensuring each worker had no more than two responsibilities at each station and a complete dry-run to test the process.

It was a starting point, but Konvalinka knew she was going to need more help in creating the detailed new protocols. So she turned to UCF’s IT project management office, a team that provides management and business analysis services across the university.

Konvalinka’s request for help turned into an ultra-collaborative effort spanning 10 departments and more than 80 people over the course of three weeks to revolutionize move-in at UCF.

Team Effort

Lucrecia Krause, a business analysis manager for UCF IT who served as the project manager for the move-in, started compiling data to get a better understanding of what checking in 6,000 students on the main campus over the span of 16 days would look like.

Her initial projections estimated wait times up to six hours for a single student to complete check in.

“We always strive to provide the best experience for our students, and this wasn’t it,” Krause says.

Additionally, she knew she needed to resolve numerous unanswered questions: How many lanes should receive cars? How many staff were needed? How many PCs and iPads should be on hand to check in residents? What happens if someone arrives in a moving van, which doesn’t fit in a parking garage? What way should traffic flow to prevent backups?

In order to address the issues and find ways to reduce wait times, Krause needed to get her hands on simulation software. After asking around the university, she connected with Assistant Professor Adan Vela, who teaches industrial engineering.

“This is sort of the bread and butter for our major,” Vela says. “As engineers, when we perform a simulation analysis, it’s usually to provide guidance, confirm feasibility and caution for potential pitfalls. Simulation analysis is a tool within the decision-making process, and we knew this was going to be a big endeavor, so we were more than happy to jump on board.”

Engineering Students Pitch In

Vela offered five of his students – doctoral students Valeria Laynes Fiascunari ’16 ’19MS and Jorge Flavio Sarmiento Falla ’16 ’18MS and undergraduate students Miguel Angel Victoria, Sebastian Berdecia-Aparicio and Elsayed Gabara — to help with the project by running simulation scenarios.

Laynes says at first she thought it seemed like a fairly straight forward process to iron out, but once she and the team started learning of the many constraints from the numerous departments involved, it became complicated quickly.

The team used a software called Simio, which industrial engineering students are exposed to in their classes at UCF. Laynes says everything she learned in her simulation courses prepared her for this job.

Using Simio, they were able to account for numerous details that affected the speed of the experience.

For example, each resident initially was going to be slotted a two-hour check-in window. But research shows when you allow a two-hour time block, people generally arrive within the first 30 minutes, creating surges of traffic. By narrowing the window to 15 minutes for each resident, the team demonstrated how spreading out the appointments would help prevent the surges and backups.

Solving Real World Problems

The team presented regularly to key stakeholders, including members of UCF’s police, parking, student health services and housing departments.

The group left each meeting with feedback to compute in order to present updated projections again the next day. The students, who were also juggling classes or teaching assistant responsibilities, met sometimes until 1 or 2 a.m. to complete the work but everyone felt it was worth the sleep deprivation.

“Having a real client, especially one as big as UCF with a lot of stakeholders in a lot of different departments, is a really rich experience that any industrial engineering needs on their resume,” says Laynes, who worked for IBM for three years in between her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. “This project is as close as it gets to reality because this is a real-world job. We’re really grateful for this experience.”

For Krause, who spent hours collaborating with the team to review, adjust and then re-adjust models, she was confident everything would go according to plan on the first weekend of move-in appointments.

“This whole experience has shown that when we all come to together to achieve a task of this magnitude, amazing things can happen.”

She and members of the planning team observed nearly 900 students arrive over a two-day period in anticipation of the new semester. The time to check in, which included a COVID testing in one garage and Housing check-in another garage, averaged under 30 minutes total, with some families going through the entire process — including travel between the garages — in an impressive 18 minutes.

A post check-in survey after the first weekend conducted by Housing and Residence Life confirmed student and family satisfaction with the new process. Of the 75 Knights who responded to the survey, nearly all (97.3 percent) were satisfied with their move-in experience and, of those who experienced move-in at another campus, 84.6 percent indicated their UCF experience was better.

“We have incredibly talented and dedicated staff at UCF, who are all willing to do their part to support the health and well-being of our staff, students and their families,” Konvalinka says. “This whole experience has shown that when we all come to together to achieve a task of this magnitude, amazing things can happen.”

WAIT! – Before you head to one of the university’s 10 residential communities, there are some new requirements — including move-in appointments — because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Move-in is starting over two weeks earlier than normal and students must sign up for a move-in arrival time,” says Tamara Jones, associate director of Housing and Residence Life. “The maximum number of residents checking in per day is approximately 700, spaced out in two-hour increments. This is to allow for physical distancing.”

Check-in at the main campus will be drive-through, but not at the campuses downtown or at Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Classes resume Aug. 24, and residents can move in Aug 8-23 after making an appointment.

through the . To make an appointment, residents first must have received their room assignment and must have acknowledged the COVID-19 housing addendum for safety precautions. Check-in at the main campus will be drive-through, but not at the campuses downtown or at Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Before arriving for move in, residents must also pre-register for COVID-19 testing. Instructions are on the move-in page of housing’s website.��The Student Health Services will conduct tests on the main, downtown and Rosen campuses in conjunction with��Aventus��BioLabs. Students will receive communication on test-site locations prior to arrival. Testing will be administered in the form of a ��nasopharyngeal (nose) swab and results are expected in two to four days.

There will be no out-of-pocket costs to students for the COVID-19 tests. UCF will bill students’ insurance, and if insurance does not cover, UCF will cover the cost of the test.

Occupancy in all UCF Housing units has been trimmed by 484 beds this year, with about 7,600 students from more than 30 states to live on campus this fall, says Jones.

Students may bring no more than two people to assist with moving in, and everyone must wear a face covering and maintain physical distancing. All staff and residents will be required to wear face covering at all times unless in your assigned room.

Greek housing students moving into campus houses that are managed by Housing also need to sign up for move-in appointments once they have a room assignment. Instructions are being sent to those students this week. Greek residents must follow the same move-in procedures.

International students and others unable to return immediately for the regular move-in will be able to indicate they need a delayed move, which is available on the move-in website. The student still must have a room assignment to request the delay.

Students will be responsible for the full rental amount, but they will be able to keep the room they reserved and move in at a later time, Jones says.

Housing officials are recommending that students leave large furniture or excessive decorative items at home this year because few surfaces and objects make spaces easier to keep clean.

After moving in, students should remain in their on-campus residence and begin a relative quarantine, only leaving their rooms for food deliveries or pickup until they receive their test results. These measures will help reduce any potential exposure after a resident is tested and helps to provide a more accurate sense of COVID-19 infection status.

Also following move-in there will be a virtual community meeting for residents to meet resident advisors and neighbors and learn about events in UCF Housing and on campus.

A plan to refund housing costs was unanimously approved on Thursday by the university’s Board of Trustees in light of the unprecedented need to ask students not to return to campus to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Refunds will go to students with leases in the Apollo, Libra, Lake Claire, Nike, Hercules and Neptune communities, as well as Towers and Rosen housing. The refunds will include students’ housing costs from March 27 through April 28, the end of the spring semester.

The university also is in discussions with the owners of NorthView and UnionWest — which are managed by UCF but privately owned. Details are still being worked out, but both are supportive of offering partial refunds for the spring term.

In addition, UCF continues to advocate on behalf of our students who reside in privately owned student apartments off campus. Ultimately, any decisions about refunds will be up to these individual off-campus properties and management companies.

Students still living on campus as of March 27 will not receive refunds.

Refunds will be processed beginning next week.

If housing costs were paid with a credit card, the refund will go back on the credit card. If not, refunds will be posted in eligible students’ accounts and will be shown in myUCF. Most students have their student account linked to a bank through direct deposit. Students who do not have direct deposit are encouraged to sign up by logging in to myUCF, clicking Student Accounts, and clicking Direct Deposit.

Students who haven’t set up direct deposit before refunds are posted will have checks sent to their mailing address on file with UCF. Students are encouraged to verify the address on file is correct, and to update it if it’s not. Verify or update your mailing address by logging in to myUCF, clicking Student Accounts, clicking Student Center, and reviewing the Personal Information section.

Any unpaid charges owed to the university will be deducted from students’ refunds.

More than 20 of our students are from the Bahamas, and our hearts go out to them, their families and their communities. In addition, many of our faculty and staff have connections to these islands.

There are a those hurt by Hurricane Dorian, and I encourage you to support the Bahamas the way that seems best to you. You also can reach out to UCF Global or Student Government to learn more about local relief efforts. Other efforts are underway for any affected students and will be shared soon.

UCF was fortunately spared the worst of Hurricane Dorian. Our experience preparing for the storm made me very proud of our university’s response.

Katie and I applaud the professionalism of our emergency management and public safety teams. They prepared our campuses this past week and ensured everything is up and running today. We also saw firsthand the compassion of those from Housing and Residence Life .

UCF’s financial aid, student account services and finance and accounting teams worked throughout the closure, as well, to complete disbursements and refunds this week.

Our medical students volunteered in Seminole County shelters to care for people who had to leave their homes. There’s no better way to give back than when it’s needed most.

The Knights Helping Knights Pantry, which reopens today, provides free clothing, food, toiletries and other items to students, no questions asked.

If you purchased more food than needed to prepare for the storm, consider donating those items to Knights Pantry. You can drop off items at the pantry in Ferrell Commons, at the President’s Office in Millican Hall or in donation bins set up across campus, which can be found under “Maps” in the .

Storm closures are never easy, but I encourage our faculty to be flexible with students who heeded early warnings and chose to evacuate. Equally important, any student who has difficulty returning in time for Friday classes should contact their faculty member directly.

Times like these remind me of the many reasons why Ů��AV is so special — and why our campus community truly is a family.

Charge On!

(photo by Nick Leyva ’15)

Nine residential areas make up UCF’s student housing. These include the main-campus communities of Apollo, Hercules, Lake Claire, Libra, Neptune, Nike, Northview and Towers at Knights Plaza, as well as the Rosen College Apartments on the Rosen Campus.

Next year, Knights will��be able to move into the new UnionWest residential community as the UCF Downtown campus opens in the fall.

“Winston is my emotional support animal. He provides me with comfort to deal with my social anxiety,” says Noah Meister, a sophomore film major, and National Merit Scholar.��“I got him three months ago and he’s 6 months old. He’s a really friendly dog [and] when I have trouble connecting with people, I have him around. Normally he’s pretty calm and friendly, but if he meets someone new he gets overly excited to see them. I think once he gets used to the campus, meeting new people won’t be such a big deal for him. He’s already gotten used to my roommates after 15 minutes of meeting.”

“The plant’s name is Philbert. It’s a burro’s tail. At the moment, he is my most prized possession. That’s why he’s getting moved in first. I’ve had him for a month. I’ve killed cactuses before, so I hope he lives,” says 20-year-old Erin Stein, a junior studio art major��and Burnett Honors Scholar. “This is my third year living in the dorms. I was in Neptune my freshman year and Lake Claire last year. The key to being a good roommate is being clean and quiet. I recommend living with friends, if you can. But not in the same bedroom. That tends to ruin friendships.”

“My last name is Heckman, like ‘What the heck man?’ And I’m walking around with this giraffe, so it’s really like ‘What the heck man?’ ” says first-year engineering major Kylie Heckman. “I got it when I was 10 — it’s an old giraffe. It was the first time my parents let me choose things to remodel my own room. I saw this giant giraffe, so you know a 10-year-old girl who loves giraffes is going to get a giant giraffe. I just wanted to feel comfortable and at home so I brought it [along with three other giraffe stuffed animals from my brother, mom and grandmother.]”

“To know that we’re going to be at the same school together, I can’t wait because I’ll be able to see him a lot more,” says Connor Smith, a�������Ի���marketing��major, who will be living in Lake Claire near his cousin, Mason Kamphaus, an engineering major and third-generation Knight. “We have about a 30-second walk to each other at all times.”

“Some places on campus I’ve been a million times, but [the resident halls are] new to me,” says Pritom Karmaker, a��biomedical sciences��major, Burnett Honors Scholar and National Merit Scholar.

“I loved it the first time I was here,” says Rebecca Gaschler, a political science major, Burnett Honors Scholar and National Merit Scholar. “I just clicked with it and I didn’t really want to even apply anywhere else.”

Please take a few minutes to answer our questions. All responses will remain confidential and private. Thank you for your time.

Survey Link: .

For more information, please contact Housing and Residence Life at: 407.823.4663 or email Housing@ucf.edu.

“The top three countries of origin for international tourism in Florida—Canada, Brazil and the U.K.—are all facing significant challenges that are likely to impact the number of visitors and amount of visitor spending in Florida,” said the director for the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the UCF College of Business in the latest Florida & Metro forecast.

The forecast notes that the U.K. health service advising against travel to Florida due to the risk of Zika likely will hit tourism in Central and South Florida particularly hard if young families choose to stay away. Add to that Brazil’s and Canada’s weakening currencies against the U.S. dollar, and Snaith says suddenly the cost of vacationing in Florida is less appealing.

With China’s economic slowdown and the ongoing unresolved Greek debt crisis, Snaith says the nation’s economy could be in for a hard landing.

On the bright side, he says, Real Gross State Product or real state GDP growth in Florida is expected to grow at a faster pace than we are forecasting for U.S. Real GDP growth over the next four years and payroll job growth continues to outpace national job growth.

Labor force growth in Florida is expected to average 2 percent through 2019, according to the forecast. The improved prospects for success will put more Floridians back on the hunt for employment while attracting out-of-state job seekers, but that combination will make lowering the state’s unemployment rate more challenging, Snaith says. The unemployment rate is forecast to hover at about 4.7 percent in 2017, then gradually increase through 2019.

Although housing prices have been rapidly rising, it is still not enough to lift 14 percent of Florida’s mortgage holders above water in their home loans. The median sales price for single-family homes increased $23,239 in July 2016, year over year, and now stands at $223,238.

The pace of housing starts are expected to increase but not fast enough to meet growing near-term demand for single-family housing. Total starts will be 114,100 in 2016, 138,000 in 2017, 151,200 in 2018, and 156,900 in 2019.

The sectors expected to have the strongest average job growth during 2016-2019 are Construction (4.9%), Professional & Business Services (3.7%), Leisure & Hospitality (2%), Education & Health Services (2%), and Trade, Transportation & Utilities (1.8%).

Real personal income growth decelerated after 2015 and will average 3.5 percent from 2016-19, with 3.8 percent growth in 2015 easing to 3.5 percent growth in 2019. Florida’s average growth will exceed the national rate by 0.5 percentage points over that four-year span.

Boosted by the strong recovery in Florida’s labor market and rising home values, retail sales will grow at an average pace of over 4.5 percent during 2016-2019.

For the full forecast, visit .

Snaith is a national expert in economics, forecasting, market sizing and economic analysis who authors quarterly reports about the state of the economy. Bloomberg News has named Snaith as one of the country’s most accurate forecasters for his predictions about the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate, the Federal Funds rate.

The Institute for Economic Competitiveness strives to provide complete, accurate and timely national, state and regional forecasts and economic analyses. Through these analyses, the institute provides valuable resources to the public and private sectors for informed decision-making.

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