<p>At the flagship public here, increased enrollment combined with planned dorm renovations left a big shortage of rooms last year and, it seems, for the coming year. The university has rented big chunks of two or three apartment complexes near the university, and shuttle service is provided. I guess the students take the shuttle in to eat, but that it is a guess. I’ve heard that most of the students being placed in the apartments are not freshmen, but returning students–I would hope so. However, I have also heard that new students who have sent in their housing materials later, rather than earlier, might be affected.</p>
<p>It doesn’t seem ideal to me, but it is better than what has gone on in the past, when some of the overflow students were housed temporarily in the commons areas, or housed in the dorms of other colleges in town–without the shuttle service.</p>
<ol>
<li> As always, know your child – can he/she handle a triple. If your child is a rising HS senior, investigate whether school detrippled this year, and keep in mind. However note, some schools have more dorms in construction. If there arent buildings go up now, they wont be done for next year. </li>
<li> If you have an incoming student, suggest to your child that he talk/email etc his two roommates asap and try to come up with livable rules to make it bearable. They should all acknowledge that they will have to be more polite. Check out library cartels, etc.<br></li>
<li> If there is a likelihood of de-tripling, try to get the kid(s) who live closest to leave winter clothes and see if their parents can bring up on parents weekend. Same for frig/mircowave, etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>If she is going to be a senior in college, I would forget about fighting the city hall. I would instead look for an apartment to rent if your daughter really doesn’t want to stay in a triple. It would also be a nice transition for her into the real world. maybe her roommate would want to go with her.</p>
<p>My son’s housing choice got mixed up one year. Long story short he was put into a triple. We were told this was going to be a new “permanent” triple room and that it was larger than the other rooms in the dorm. This was all true. 3 stand alone closets (movable furniture) were put in, 3 beds, and 3 desks. It was a study lounge that was converted for more dorm room space. My son spent a semester in that room and there was adequate space, but tight bc of all the clothes with small closet space. </p>
<p>At the end of the semester my son was informed that they MUST de-triple the room bc it did not meet certain code/s! He was notified last by housing, so he was the one booted out! They offered us $200 to help with the move and inconvenience. They offered boxes, and moving bins if needed. They offered to open the dorm up to our son 2 days before the other students were to arrive for spring semester. We went and helped to move everything. The $200 was very nice, but since we are OOS it did not begin to cover our expenses (took a few days from work, hotel stay, eating out, gas, etc.). Housing worked very hard to find a room in the same dorm so my son would be happy. There was a room that opened up completely (2 guys were not returning). My son was worried about who would be his new roommate, but they never needed to fill the other bed and my son had a huge single for that semester.</p>
<p>A young lady from our area was put into a triple at a state school. She was last to arrive on move in day bc she was from OOS. The other 2 roommmates had moved in earlier in the day and took over the room (they did not come from too far away). She was left without ANY closet space, did not have a desk, and was not offered one drawer. They “gave her” 2 shelves for all of her belongings. She was miserable. This situation combined with other social issues ended up with her transferring out after one year.</p>
<p>Northeast, that is terrible. I would hope the RAs would be on top of the situation and monitor. What are they getting free rooms for? They should be pro-active.</p>
<p>This seems to happen every year but I’ve never heard of a senior in college being tripled up, only freshmen. Most colleges do their upper year housing through a lottery and the students know what room they’ll be in and who their roommates are before the end of school the previous spring. Not sure how this could happen to a senior.</p>
<p>kay, that is the part that I could not understand. I do not understand why if negotiating directly with the roommates as to what is fair did not work, why she could not have addressed this with the RA, and housing if that failed! OOS costs are at least 30k per year! Don’t ya think that she deserved a place to hang a few blouses/coat, and a desk to study?! Truthfully, I don’t know how she made it living that way for an entire year. I don’t know the family well enough, so I did not ask for more details. I am sure it was a painful year.</p>
<p>Could a senior get tripled if they are going to study abroad for one semester, or lost their status for housing because they took a year off to work to pay for school? I know some kids who had to leave school bc their parents simply did not have the funds to pay after 2 to 3 years.</p>
<p>Well NE, you certainly bring up another good point, if you think your child may be tripled, politely call head of residence life and ask them to communicate with all RAs with triples and make certain they check up on them.</p>
<p>kay, the family knew what was going on with their D. I have a feeling that D asked her parents to stay out of it. She really sounded intimidated to me. </p>
<p>I talked with my older boy about having self respect, reminding him that I am paying for half of his room, not to be put out of his room unconveniently, have clear boundaries, and not to be pushed around. I gave him some different examples of situations that could arise. I am so glad that I did those things before he left! I was able to give him some advice before he got into some of those situations, and he was able to really listen and take it in. There was no emotion involved then bc he did not know his roommate, or any other kids at the school.</p>
<p>NE, I am so sorry about what happened to that girl, but this is why the time to call residence life is NOW, and suggest how to deal with this pro-actively. I am certain there are RA meetings where residence life director gives rules/suggestions.</p>
<p>My son who will be Jr in college has never roomed with a friend. He an extremely social young man but he is also an extremely unorganized young man. Both years he missed the deadline for getting housing with a requested roommate. He is fine living with someone new. This fall he will be in a University owned apartment with 2 boys he doesn’t know. He said it is actually better for him. He can “chill” with his friends but have a place to go home to where he can focus on his school work. He can be easily distracted so he feels this works for him. It also gets him out of the dilemma of having to make a decision between different friends as to who to live with.</p>
<p>I had a chance to live with friends for next year (Sophomore), but because I’m kind of anti-social I chose to room with a random person, to force myself to meet new people.</p>
<p>I agree overloading the electric circuits is definitely a possiblity. Those temporary rooms did have walls - they were designed to be study lounges and I think they managed to get everyone moved within a few weeks, but I agree it’s not an ideal situation at all.</p>
<p>Forced tripling shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone–it’s be going on for decades at most schools, and I’d be very surprised if the possibility wasn’t disclosed somewhere in the housing materials distributed to OP’s child. My D’s college is full of freshman forced triples. From what we’ve heard, most kids are de-tripled by second semester as space frees up, but by then a number of them have come to like their situation and decline to move. While the best way to avoid tripling is to get housing deposits in early, many students are undecided about what school to attend and don’t choose until May 1. I’ve always thought they shouldn’t be penalized because they wanted to give more serious thought to their college choice. All freshman should be the same lottery for housing–it shouldn’t be a race.</p>
<p>The story about the last-to-arrive student who was bullied by her roommates is disturbing, but the fact that she accepted this behavior suggests the girl wasn’t emotionally mature enough to be at college. That may be the real reason for her failure to thrive there.</p>
<p>MommaJ, she did thrive in the classroom, but was miserable and not thriving socially. She ended up transferring to a much higher ranked school and it is costing the parents less money. I guess in an indirect unintentional way, they may have done her a favor.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages I ended up in a quad (supposed to be a triple). It ended up being a good year. I wonder if more state schools are having to triple out of necessity- perhaps underestimating their yield in uncertain financial times led to the need to put more students in a room? I know that has happened to several of D’s friends- they’ve ended up in a “temporary” triple. </p>
<p>NE, that’s a really unfortunate story. I’m glad that she found a place that she felt more at home!</p>
<p>S4 was put into a triple. I don’t think timing of submitting applications (we were quick), as they supposedly reviewed all applicants and grouped accordingly. At his dorm they are making bunk beds with two beds, lifting the third bed and putting a desk and drawers under it. They will also give a refund depending on how long they have to stay in a triple, but not close to the cost of a double divided by three. </p>
<p>I suggest you contact housing as a concerned parent. Voice your concerns about the learning environment in a crowded room. Do not complain or threaten. We did this (that’s how I found out what they were doing), and I believe it put S4 higher on the list to move into a double (i.e., squeaky wheel gets the grease). </p>
<p>I’m guessing our kids will likely be the third in the room, which means they get the leftovers. As a parent, I wouldn’t go in demanding that the others share since your child has to live there. Instead, discuss methods they can use to make sure there is a fairer distribution. For instance, if the other two get the closet space, the third should have the choice of bed and/or desk. If all else fails, they should talk to the RA, who hopefully will provide a solution.</p>