Jill Fier

Students are still living in the dayrooms that were converted into expanded housing at the beginning of the school year, despite fewer people being in the dorms this semester.

Associate Director of Residential Life Sue Sandberg said the decline in the number of people in campus housing in the Spring semester is normal.

There are enough regular sized rooms for students to move into now if they choose to, but many are not taking that option.

Students like the flexibility of the room with the moveable furniture and more space, she said.

Sandberg also said they are planning to use expanded housing next semester and some students even intend to apply specifically for those rooms.

Freshman Mechanical Engineering major Josh Holt said overall he likes living in the converted Binnewies Hall dayroom and he is considering applying for expanded housing next semester if that option is made available to students.

“When I came here, everyone had their own group of friends, but we all hung out together and got to be pretty good friends,” he said.

Besides being able to meet more people, Holt said he did not move out of the dayrooms this semester because there are more advantages than disadvantages.

He said he like having air conditioning and more space, in addition to being able to split cable and phone bills with more people.

Some of the drawbacks are the lack of closets and bookshelves, and the noise from everyone who passes the room on the stairs.

Justin Kuper, Vance Hanson and Chris Willers agreed and also said their converted dayroom in Matthews Hall has its ups and downs, but they never get bored with so many people being in one room.

Not all lounges were converted into expanded housing due the record high enrollment this fall, but to make up for lost study space, a program called Late Night Larson was available as an evening study area in the Larson Commons cafeteria with snacks on sale. The program starts up again next Sunday night, and a similar program will also be running at Medary Commons.

#1.887617:459338226.jpg:dayroom.jpg:Chris Gruenhagen and Ryan Egeberg play foosball in the Larson Commons area last weekend. The area will continue to be used for Late Night Larson, a program designed to make up for lost study space in the residence halls due to overcrowding. :