Inuvik (Sep 13/04) - Aurora College in Inuvik now has a waiting list for out of town students requiring a place to live.

"All 30 of our family units are now occupied," Robbie Joe, housing officer with Aurora College said.

Joe said three students are now on the waiting list and three other applications are pending.

In the family units, there are 18 new and 12 returning students.

The student housing is located on the west end side of town in an area of row housing known as the Blueberry Patch.

Joe said there are also 30 single rooms available for out of town students.

There are three single rooms in each of 10 units, she said.

"We have no waiting list for that but we have three or four which are pending," she said, adding that only out of town students are eligible for the housing.

Students must pay $7.25 per day for a single room while a family pays $505 per month for a unit.

The rooms include furnishings.

Joe said an out of town student with a family who is on the waiting list has the option of arriving and living in a single room until a family unit becomes available.

Should a single student be on a waiting list, she suggested staying with family or friends may be an option until a room becomes available.

This is a busy week for the college, as returning students resume studies and new ones arrive.

Joe said staff have been busy with repairs and preparations in the Blueberry Patch housing complex over the summer to ensure the units are ready for the fall term.

The Blueberry Patch student housing is being used for single students for the first time, something Joe said may cause difficulties if one or more students become disruptive within the small units.

"At the old college, they had visitor rules and some students might find it lonely, especially the first-year students," Joe said.

Aurora College Inuvik campus director Miki O'Kane said time will tell as to how the new situation of having the students off-campus will work.

"Our preference would be to have it here, as it is easier to have people closer," O'Kane said.

Aurora College itself has moved its location to Locheux Road from Distributor St.

While the $9.9 million campus was originally to have a 24-room residence attached for students, lack of funding caused cancellation of those plans.

Inuvik's Mayor Peter Clarkson said, as a result of the housing situation, the town has signed a letter of support for the Gwich'in Tribal council and the Inuvialuit Regional Corp. to build a campus residence and then lease it to the territorial government.

"In the past we have always had on-campus housing, now there isn't any at all. It could cause potential problems," Clarkson said.