College program history

[EKU_Colonel_12]

I am an Alumni of the Disney College Program and current writer for the WDWNT: The Magazine. At WDWNT we are celebrating our 5th anniversary. As part of the celebration the magazine is doing a issue on the WDW resort the last five years. I am trying to do an article on the college program from the last five years. I was hoping you could share with me or lead me in the right direction of some of the big changes the college program has made the last five years.

Some of the stuff I'm looking for is:
* How many cast members are hired a year as CP
* How has Patterson changed the hiring of CP
* When did an additional $200 fee get added to participants

 

[MomlovesDad]

Wait. My dd is a cast member eff 8/20. There is an additional $200 charge?? Haven't heard of that one!

 

[EKU_Colonel_12]

"Program Assessment Fee ($100)
The one-time non-refundable $100 Program Assessment fee helps support the events and activities scheduled in the housing complexes throughout the program.
Housing and Administration Fee ($200)
This required non-refundable $200 Housing and Administration fee, will be applied to the participant's housing costs during the first few weeks of the program."\

Disney College Program website.

When I did my program it was just the $100 dollar fee.

 

[Berlioz70]

The Housing Fee was added in the last couple years 2009 or later to offset the first week's rent as some Cast were not working enough to cover the first week's rent.

Patterson houses approximately the same amount of CPs as Chatham (1800), so when that opened in 2008 that helped to greatly increase CP numbers. Additionally, it became easier to get "off campus" housing within the last couple years, allowing Disney to hire even more CPs.

Disney does not release their hiring info regarding CPs so it will be very difficult to get solid numbers. However, I remember them saying the occupancy for the complexes during my Housing Orientation:

Vista - 2400
Chatham - 1800
Patterson - 1800
Commons - 1000

Total would be around 6,000-7,000 at any time due to change outs, roommate exchanges, cleaning, etc. Programs range from 4 months to 12 months.

There was a period, after Patterson opened, that they tried housing PIs within the complex. This limited MI housing opportunities as MIs were not allowed to live with the CPs and therefore couldn't apply for Disney sponsored housing... but then they stopped it shortly after.