Slowly but surely, residence hall occupancy is dropping, and students in temporary housing are finding themselves placed in permanent rooms.
As of Monday morning, the residence hall occupancy at Miami University was 7,276 although the total capacity is 7,105, according to Lucinda Coveney, director of housing contracts and meal plans. The occupancy was higher earlier in the semester.
"I would think by now that number would be pretty stable," said Pete Miller, associate vice president for auxiliaries. "We might see it drop another dozen or so."
The large, "barracks-style" rooms located in Havigurst and Hepburn halls have all been emptied, though according to Coveney, some stayed in the large capacity housing longer and by choice.
"Some men decided to stay there longer to wait for a better location that better suited them when we offered them a place to go," Coveney said.
Larry Fink, assistant vice president of housing and auxiliaries, said students living in large capacity rooms did not seem to mind.
"It seems like they had a good sense of humor about it," Fink said. "They were good natured. We really didn't have very many complaints at all."
According to Coveney, 10 resident assistants (RAs) still had a roommate as of Monday, though she said the university is bringing down occupancy in rooms each day.
"Right now we don't have any more than six people in any room, and we're getting ready to reduce those (rooms) to quads," Coveney said.
Miller said keeping as many beds occupied while keeping all rooms at or under capacity is crucial for the university.
"The students who live in the residence halls have to pay the costs of operating them," Miller said. "It's very hard to reduce costs when there are open beds scattered throughout residence halls. Fees have to be adjusted upward to try and cover the costs."
According to Miller, the total residence hall capacity has decreased since the 1980s and 1990s.
During that decade, the university decided RAs should not have roommates, though they did previously, residence halls were demolished or given other uses, and capacities within the halls were lowered.
"There was more demand for single rooms, so some of the smallest doubles were made into singles," Miller said. "There were also more rooms historically that were triples. We reduced the capacity (of these rooms) even though the exterior of the building looked the same."
Although the total capacity of residence halls is 7,105 and the university is currently housing 7,276, Miller explained no rooms are over capacity because housing and dining converted other spaces into student rooms.
"More study spaces had been made on the second and third floor of residence halls," Miller said. "Now, they have been converted to student rooms. This year in some of those buildings we had to go back and furnish them."
Miller said the university took restroom space into consideration to make sure not too many students were assigned to one restroom, and students in all these rooms have the ability to escape from fire, among other factors.
"That's an example of using a space that we would call extended overflow," Miller said. "When there's a situation like this when we need to house students, you know it's going to drop away as the numbers come down."
Miller said when students return for second semester in January, the occupancy should be down another 200 students due to transfers, students studying abroad and perhaps sickness and personal issues.
