Campus housing unable to keep pace As most upperclassmen at Virginia Tech can see, the number of students on campus is increasing. The dining halls seem to be a little more crowded, the football lottery system seems more and more futile and if you want to park in the commuter lot, plan on arriving at least 20 minutes early. The growing student body has also affected university housing and residential life, which could potentially lead to greater problems.

"Admissions are very much a predicting challenge since the admissions staff must make a prediction as to how many freshman applicants will accept VT's offer of admission," said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Edward Spencer.

"Based upon previous years' experience in what this acceptance rate (known as "yield") has been, and with over 20,700 applications from freshmen, the admissions office offered admission to about 13,000 of these applicants," Spencer said.

The university projected that about 5,000 of those would accept admission and become the new freshman class.

"What happened is that the popularity of Virginia Tech evidently increased even further than the university had projected and the number of applicants who accepted (admission) was about 400 beyond what the admissions staff predicted and expected," Spencer said.

The university still makes the claim that all freshmen from the incoming class are required, and will be guaranteed, on-campus housing. There are, however, a few exceptions: if the freshman student is residing with his or her parents or close relatives who are established residents of the community; if the student is married and lives with his or her spouse; if the student is a military veteran of at least six months active duty; or if the student is at least 21 years of age.

Regardless of these exceptions, from a housing perspective, something still has to change in order for the university to accommodate and house the overflowing number of freshmen.

Residential life, said Spencer, is instituting a few innovative methods to allow more availability for the freshman class to be guaranteed on-campus housing.

One new plan will offer returning students and transfer students a "buy out" deal. This will allow the students to cancel their on-campus housing contracts, which have been binding and non-breakable in the past. Residential life hopes this would encourage upperclassmen to move off campus to open up more housing for freshmen. Students who are interested should e-mail housing@vt.edu with name and student identification number.

Residential life is also restricting the number of on-campus housing options for transfer students.

Residential life "will house about 40 (students) who were accepted prior to our knowing of the overage in freshmen, rather than the usual 300 (students)," Spencer said.

To secure housing for all freshman students, the university is also planning to use more "temporary housing" than usual.

Temporary housing options includes RAs having roommates, housing three students instead of two in the larger rooms and converting study lounges into living areas.

"Our normal target is to open with 100 to 150 students in temporary housing who are then assigned to vacancies that occur during the first month or two of the semester; this year we expect to open with 300-plus students in these temporary arrangements," Spencer said.

An excess of students and a limited amount of housing is not a difficulty that only Virginia Tech faces, it's something that many other universities deal with as well. The University of Maryland at College Park is also a state school enrolling close to 24,000 undergraduates.

According to the Department of Residential Life at the University of Maryland's Web site, "First-time freshman students who submit their enrollment confirmations and/or housing and meal requests for fall after May 1, regardless of their admission status, are not guaranteed residence hall housing by the start of classes."

According to UM's Residential Life Web site, "this year, more students will apply to live in University of Maryland residence halls than can be accommodated. This same thing has happened every year since 1994. Every spring semester since 1994, some new applicants have been wait-listed."

Residential Life officials at University of Maryland have warned rising juniors and seniors that not all such residents can be accommodated for their third and fourth years.

Other local colleges in the state, such as James Madison University, are encouraging students to live on campus for just their first two years. According to its residential life Web site, as a tip for transfer students, JMU warns that, "on-campus housing is limited … you may need to be thinking about living off campus".

The University of Virginia guarantees housing for the first two years, but ensures the student must be willing to live not only in the traditional suites, but in any of the housing options available, including the residential and language housing programs.