As more than 3,800 freshman enter Ball State University this fall, 122 will find themselves living in study lounges to begin the year.
For the first time in three years, the number of freshman admitted to the university has outnumbered the amount of rooms available for the students to live in, Director of Housing and Residence Life Alan Hargrave said. To make up for the overabundance, Ball State University Housing and Residence Life has transformed study lounges in Studebaker West, Noyer and both Johnson Complexes into 'temporary housing' complete with beds, internet, phone lines and doors with locks, Hargrave said. In the other Residence halls across campus Residence Assistants are accepting roommates to help with the overflow, he added.
"[The temporary housing] are not that different from a regular room," Hargrave said. "The students will be moved from the temporary housing as soon as rooms become available. RA's gaining roommates is also part of standard procedure when we have a large freshman class."
The students who were put into the temporary housing were admitted late, Hargrave said.
Ball State started sending out the temporary housing contracts in mid-July and those individuals were aware of the room shortage when they signed their individual housing contracts.
"Over 13,000 applications were received by Ball State this year," Hargrave said. "We were over by 122 and that's not bad considering all that wanted in. People need to be reminded that this is not a rare occurrence at Ball State or any other university."
Hall directors report student vacancies once a week to Housing and Residence Life. Once a student permanently leaves his room, a temporary housing student is contacted based on need.
Hargrave said the university tries to listen to students when it comes time to reassign them to a new room.
"We always have some people that don't want to move out, because they make friends and the rooms we give them tend to be large," Hargrave said.
Using their dressers as barriers, freshman Kaitlin Marshall and her three roommates call their Swinford study lounge home.
"It's better than having regular dorm rooms," Marshall said. "Four people to a room was good because I made more instant friends and it's not like we are squished in the room."
Despite her larger-than-average room, Marshall said Ball State should look closer at their enrollment.
"I think they should accept what they can room," Marshall said.
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