Last year, residence hall lounges were converted into makeshift dorm rooms with at least four students living together to accommodate for the overflow of students.

This semester, the lounges are open.

Dave Taylor, assistant director of Residence Services, said that even though the incoming number of students is about the same as last year, the conversion of single occupant rooms to doubles in Korb Hall, Centennial Halls D, E and F and the transition of Stopher Hall from double rooms to triples, has become a viable solution.

“We can’t just erect a new building or that will pass that cost on to the student,” Taylor said. “We looked into what was our existing inventory of space and that was Korb, Centennial and Stopher.”

Taylor said that Centennial and Stopher Halls are the newest buildings with more space and private baths — a big perk for students. He said about 150 rooms were converted into triples. Upperclassmen were given the option to select their roommates and live in a triple in Centennial D, E or F for a lower cost. He said whatever rooms were available in the Centennials were used to house freshmen.

Taylor said turning Korb Hall into doubles added 110 extra beds and that placing students into the dorms proved to be a better solution than living in lounges. He said students now have access to the lounges and more privacy by living in a dorm.

Dalton Ingley, a freshman exploratory major, said that he was not pleased when he arrived on campus and discovered he was not only living in a different building, but he had two roommates.

“I found out when I was moving in that I wasn’t living in Lake Hall which I applied for. They moved me to Stopher where I had two roommates,” Ingley said. “At first I wasn’t too happy, but I lucked out and got two cool roommates, but usually one person in a small space is enough,” Ingley said.

Ryan Reinsel, a freshman fine art major, said he enjoys having an extra roommate to explore campus with. He is Ingley’s roommate.

“I’d rather live three to a room than a lounge. I have two cool people to talk to; we have a cool setup for our dorm and more stuff for the room,” said Reinsel.

Contact Maura Zurick at [email protected].