Michigan schools feel residence hall squeeze

Universities across Michigan are facing a problem every administration dreads - the housing crunch.

But this year, the University has been able to accommodate every student who requested a spot in the residence halls.

"In the last ten years, this has been the best it's been to provide quality service to students," said Larry Durst, business manager for University Housing. "Many schools have their largest classes this year. We dealt with that last year. Now, U of M is a leader and a model of housing for other schools."

The Housing Department, Durst said, has worked closely with the Office of the Provost and the Undergraduate Admissions Office to plan for this year's enrollment. Also, 95 percent of first-year students want to live in the residence halls.

Durst said every student request for University housing, including those of juniors and seniors, was filled this year. Even though Housing restricted the residence halls to underclassmen, a handful of juniors and seniors received beds.

"We know that many students want to come here, but a triple is just not desirable ... so we had to work hard not to have a problem this year," Durst said.

But the residence halls are a little tighter at other Michigan schools.

"We resist tripling and have to limit returning students to dorms," said Colleen Tompkins, manager of Customer Service Operations at Eastern Michigan University.

EMU is one of the state schools receiving a larger than normal incoming class this year.

"We're full," Tompkins said. "We've accommodated most students on the housing waiting list, taking the new students first."

EMU's housing office knew the class sizes would increase, she said.

"We've expected this growth rate because of the birth rate in the late '70s and early '80s," Tompkins said. "Universities may have to become more select."

While Tompkins said EMU may look into building new residence halls, other Michigan schools face other problems.

"We are physically running out of classroom space," said Andy Beachnau, director of Housing at Grand Valley State University. "Since I started (in 1982), the student body has grown from 4,000 to about 16,700."

Despite the large incoming class this year, Grand Valley has also managed to provide 99 to 100 percent of the first-year students with housing.

Jon Schaffer, Ferris State's associate director of housing, also reported school housing as full.

"This year, the growing number of freshmen seems to be a state and region-wide trend," Schaffer said. "In the first couple weeks of school we found spaces for everyone."

Ferris students looking for housing had to temporarily share rooms with students in singles. The students in the singles were rewarded with $100 bookstore gift certificates.

In the first few weeks of class, many schools do not have housing for everyone, Schaffer said.

Some students are admitted to multiple schools and decide to attend one university at the last minute. Consequently, housing departments are left in the dark at the beginning of the term.

In the first few weeks, housing officials find these empty spaces in the residence halls and fill them as soon as possible. Other Michigan schools notice the growing number of entering students but have not reported any problems at all.

Janeece Hayes, Programming Coordinator for University Housing at Oakland University, was also pleased with Oakland's current housing state of affairs.

"We're not overcrowded, and everyone is accommodated," Hayes said. "The number of freshmen is going up and our goal is to build more housing. We're leaning toward apartments or off-campus housing for the upperclassmen and reserving the dorms for the freshmen."

09-15-98