My Navy ensign was in a double at OTS and gets a housing allowance to live off base in an apartment now while doing further training. I’m sure he’ll be in crowded quarters shipboard, but on shore I gather he will generally have his own quarters. FYI, not really relevant to this thread. I also know that huge dorm rooms were common at British boarding schools - I read enough school stories about them!
I’m not so shocked by QU using lounge space as a dorm room - we saw that in a couple of campuses we visited, but in all of them there was some monetary compensation for being squashed. Our American U guide was in a forced triple, the kids ended up getting along well and loved the break they got on housing costs, so opted to stay together the whole year. Other colleges rent hotel space in local apartment buildings or hotels as a way of avoiding this problem.