Forty-three Residence Hall rooms still house five students from about 300 at year's start
Nearly 300 rooms of freshman students in the residence halls were filled with five people at the start of the year together in a space traditionally meant for four.
Associate Director of Residence Life Shaun Holtgreive said the number of rooms still in expanded occupancy is down to 43 as of Oct. 17. Ten of the rooms have recently been offered the chance to move and are in the process of moving or making the decision to move.
In addition, 45 rooms have voluntarily chosen to remain in expanded occupancy.
Holtgreive said students usually have two to four days to decide whether they would like to move out or stay.
“We’re finding it takes people longer to make the decision,” Holtgreive said. “We’re at the part of the year where people have established friendships and if the new room isn’t in the same hall it makes it harder for them to move.”
Samantha Floen is one of the many students who decided to stay in expanded occupancy. In a previous interview, the Royal Oak freshman said despite the name confusion she faces in her room where three Samantha’s and two Sarah’s reside, living with four others was better than she anticipated.
“I didn’t think it was going to be terrible but it definitely worked out better than I thought,” Floen said. “If it had been really bad I probably would have left but luckily that didn’t happen — we have fun.”
Floen’s roommate Samantha Legere said living in the tighter packed room has been a lot less stressful than she thought.
Legere said the only thing she feels they are missing out on is having a living room setting in the middle room like most others in residence halls enjoy.
“We definitely lack space,” the Oscoda freshman said. “We are constantly cleaning and rearranging things because if there is any mess it all it gets in each other’s space.”
Holtgreive said there is no estimated time frame for when all rooms in expanded occupancy will have been given the option to move.
Overall, he said he believes the transitions from room to room and the living situations in expanded occupancy have gone as well as can be expected.
“In general things have gone smoothly,” Holtgreive said. “Students are far more resilient than people give them credit for. It’s pretty easy to find ways to accommodate a fifth person if everyone gets along.”
