While most students spend their first year on campus in traditional dormitory housing, some students are having to compensate for a larger freshman class this year.
Director of Residence Life Aaron Macke said 36 freshmen are living in expanded housing this semester.
“This year, our first-year class size is up again,” Macke said. “It’s very healthy, it’s robust. Students want to be here and they want to live in the halls, so we had to go into expanded again.”
Freshman Jamie Worlobah and her roommates live in what used to be the floor lounge, but Worlobah said she doesn’t mind all the extra space.
“When I checked out the room for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is gonna be so cool’ because I saw how much space we had and how we all had our own individual space and I was excited,” Worlobah said.
Not only are students living in lounges, but Murray Hall is more crowded than Residence Life had originally planned this year, with some rooms having up to four girls.
Macke said Murray Hall’s rooms were originally built for three, and Residence Life is working to distribute the rooms as such.
“We still think that with the size of the room it’s probably best as a triple; probably more accommodating, probably better for space, roommate conflicts etcetera as triples,” Macke said. “However, it’s large enough for a quad.”
Freshman Abby Anderson in Murray Hall is happy that she only has two roommates.
“We’ve been in a lot of rooms with four people and we seem to like our set up better,” Anderson said, “just because we don’t have to share the bathroom with three other people.”
While rooms are crowded at this time, Macke anticipates more regular housing to open up soon.
“As spaces free up, we then move people from expanded into traditional,” Macke said.
Caroline Rode can be reached at rode8318@stthomas.edu.
Great job Caroline! I lived with 4 girls freshman year in Murray Hall, actually everyone did, so I was surprised to hear Aaron say they were built for 3 girls.
Well done piece.
I lived in Murray last year, you can tell that it is only made for 3 people. Last year all the rooms started out with 4 girls in them, by the end of the 1st semester almost half of the girls moved out. I hope they get these girls in different housing soon cause that small of a room can’t handle 4 girls!
An interesting follow-up story would be to compare the price/amenities of living on-campus in comparison to the apartments available in the area. I paid a lot more to love on campus, and now I live right in the area and the amenities/rooms are better and rent is WAY lower. I wish I would’ve been more attentive to this while I was in college.