With a record number of freshmen living on campus this year, on-campus housing has become harder to come by.

 

All freshmen are required to live on campus for their first year at St. Edward’s University unless given an exemption for living close to campus. However, this year, the number of new students exceeded the number of vacancies allocated for freshmen on-campus.

 

As a result, several students were given expanded occupancy arrangements for the first week of the semester.

 

According to Nicole Garcia of the Office of Admissions, this year’s freshman class consists of 782 students.

 

Dave Rozeboom, the director of Residence Life, said that three male students were placed in the game room of Hunt/Le Mans Hall, in which furniture was installed for occupancy purposes. One female student lived with a resident assistant in Basil Moreau Hall.

 

Roy Pequeno, hall director at Hunt/LeMans, said that there are still students technically assigned to the game room and lobby, but that these students have been commuting from their homes in Austin.

 

“All of the students have been really understanding,” Pequeno said. “These … are some of the last students that applied and got accepted, and it just so happened that they live in Austin.”

 

Pequeno added that some students have been placed in permanent residencies or with RAs.

 

Rozeboom also said that for the 2009-2010 school year, the school instituted a clause in all RAs’ contracts that said they would have to share a room with a student temporarily if necessary.

 

He also noted that all students in expanded occupancy will have been placed in permanent residencies for the year by this week.

 

Rozeboom said that there are currently 1,386 beds available on campus, not counting the spaces in Moreau House, home to the Holy Cross brothers and several students. Residence Life does not oversee the location.

 

The shortage of available on-campus housing also affected those on a wait list for open spots. Rozeboom said that during the 2009-2010 school year, everyone on the wait list was eventually accepted. This year, there were around 90 students who had to find housing off campus. However, none of these students were freshmen, as Residence Life places its top priority on new students.

 

“Our commitment is to house all freshmen on campus, except for the 10 percent who get an exemption for living in the area, rising sophomores who want to live on-campus, and whatever is left over for juniors and seniors,” Rozeboom said.

 

When asked if the increasing number of students in freshman classes meant that there would be a need for new residence halls, Rozeboom said that while school administrators are aware that more housing will be needed eventually, there are currently no plans to expand.

 

“The Housing Task Force and Master Planning Committee are aware that we’re going to need more housing in the next few years,” Rozeboom said, “but there is not enough demand to begin building right this moment.”