BOZEMAN — An email to 78 members of Montana State University’s faculty and staff who live within university housing says that they all have nine months to find a new place to live.
The first line reads: "This letter is to provide you with advance notice that your housing contract will not be renewed beyond June 30, 2021."
“It was never intended as an employment perk or an employment benefit,” says Tracy Ellig, MSU Vice President of Communications. Ellig says it is an issue dating back years: faculty and staff living in housing meant for students.
“It’s been a very difficult decision for us to make,” Ellig says. “We did not make it lightly. We have graduate students, every year on a waiting list for housing.”
Ellig explained, “That housing was always intended to be student housing. It was never meant to be long-term employee housing.”
The letter states that "extending accommodations at MSU Family and Graduate Housing to some employees has resulted in an unwanted situation of inequality."
And according to Ellig, that wait list for graduate students looking for housing here has only grown, with about three percent more grad students attending this year.
“In a typical fall, we have 40 to 60 graduate students who have families who are on a waiting list for housing,” Ellig says.
I talked with two employees, who did not want to be on camera.
Each says they are worried that they don’t make enough money to find affordable housing elsewhere in Bozeman.
Listings show some three-bedroom apartments within university housing go at around $925 per month.
“Those rental rates only exist because they’re subsidized by students paying housing fees across our entire enterprise,” Ellig says.
The email goes on: “Please know that we value you as an MSU employee” and “the decision not to extend the housing contract does not reflect on your performance or status as our employee.”
“We understand that this is a challenge but we also understand that we have students who need this housing,” Ellig says.
