NOTE: This article contains a correction.
When freshman Mark Davis arrived on move-in day, he was greeted by two roommates instead of just one.
Davis, who lives on the third floor of McMillan Hall in a double room with two other roommates, is one of 132 freshmen living on campus this year in overflow housing. *
“I have great roommates, so I’m pretty happy where I’m at,” Davis said. “If I didn’t have such a good situation with my roommates, I might consider moving out.”
In the meantime, Davis said he and his roommates do what they can to make the cramped living space tolerable for the rest of the semester.
“We try to keep our stuff out of the middle of the room and keep to our corners,” Davis said.
Alan Jacob, associate director of student housing, said the main reason for overflow rooms was the increase in freshman enrollment. There were more students who enrolled this year than expected, Jacob said.
Out of the 2,804 students accepted to Whitworth for fall 2008, 547 enrolled. Last year, there were 530 incoming freshmen and 470 in fall 2006, according to admissions data.
Due to the increase in freshmen enrollment, some double rooms and a few triple rooms are now being used to accommodate one extra occupant in order to provide every on-campus student with a place to live.
Jacob said another reason for overflow housing is the increasing number of students from Spokane choosing to live away from home.
“[Whitworth] always anticipated 10 percent of local students to live at home,” he said. “But more and more, local students are living on campus.”
The large freshman class last year also explains why the housing situation is tighter this year, Jacob said.
There are 703 upperclassmen living on campus this school year, but none are living in overflow housing, he said.
There are normally 1,233 spots for students in university-owned housing: 1,154 in residence halls (including the Shalom Community Center) as well as 79 spaces in theme houses. This year, a total of 1,249 students live in university-owned housing, Jacob said.
He said the housing situation across campus changes from day-to-day and that it is difficult to determine when the overflow problem will be resolved.
It is possible that some students will continue to live in overflow rooms until the end of the semester, Jacob said, adding that most of the overflow students are men in McMillan, Arend, Duvall and Baldwin-Jenkins Halls.
Most overflow rooms are double rooms turned into triples. However, a few triples are also being used as quadruples, he said.
Double rooms that are turned into triples contain a lofting bed to accommodate an extra student. In addition, each student in such a living situation is given $21 per week, up from $20 last year, Jacob said.
If a triple room becomes a quadruple, each student will now receive $25 per week, compared to $20 last year, he said.
Landon Crecelius, resident director of Stewart, the Village and Boppell, said 12 freshmen are living in Boppell, a traditionally upperclassmen residence hall.
“It was neat to see how those freshmen were traditiated,” he said.
Julie Wootton contributed to this report.
Contact Tim Takechi at tim.takechi@whitworthian.com.
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*In the original posting, the number of freshmen living in overflow housing was incorrectly stated. About 132 freshmen are in a total of 40 overflow rooms.
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