At the start of each semester, it’s inevitable that some students will have to deal with housing problems both on and off campus, but this semester it seems the number of issues is growing.

Like in previous semesters, some students were placed in transitional housing (lounges) until other accommodations could be made. This is due to a 22.6 percent increase in freshmen applications since last year.

Students in past years were accepted into Kent State right up until the beginning of the fall semester, but because of the spike in enrollment, the university announced in June that it would no longer be taking applications for main campus.

A necessary move, but it almost seems like a decision made too late.

Not only that, but earlier this month Residence Services offered to cancel housing contracts of 140 sophomores in the hope of opening more housing for freshmen on campus. Only eight students actually took the university up on that offer and in return got a refund on their $200 housing deposit and a $155 credit to their Bursar account to be used on a commuter parking pass.

Perhaps only eight students took the offer because by the time the university created it there was scarce housing to be found even off campus. Which brings on the next issue: Students with no place to stay due to a gap between leases. Many students encountered a dilemma when apartments were not ready for move-in on the agreed upon date, leaving them with nowhere to go when one lease ended and another was set to start.

Current and future residents of Sunrise Town House Apartments were forced to find new housing before Aug. 1 with no official warning from a landlord. Residents found out unofficially through word-of-mouth and office visits that the apartments were being demolished in early August — despite that the decision to sell was made months before. This left even more students and Kent residents looking for some place to live.

It seems the university and the city need to combine to figure out how this situation will be handled. Students don’t need the added stress of not knowing whether they’ll have a place to live next month.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.