By Hugh Garbrick

An influx of admitted students has overwhelmed the university’s on-campus housing this year, forcing as many as 700 students into living in lounges and flex-rooms, a Resident Life spokesperson said.

Resident Life assistant director for communications and marketing Tracy Kiras estimated that 38 lounges are being used as dorm rooms to accommodate students. These are in addition to the use of many “flex-rooms,” which fit one more student than a dorm’s normal capacity.

“We’re seeing a higher than expected student class and because of that a higher number of students who are wanting on-campus housing,” Kiras said.

This semester, Kiras said there are 364 students in extended occupancy, which means that the university lacks adequate housing space for those 364 students. This, through the placement of these students in flex-rooms and converted lounges, affects about 700 students total, she said.

The Resident Hall Association (RHA), the student-run governing body representing on-campus students, has supported ResLife’s decision to utilize flex-rooms and lounges, said Kiras.

“RHA and other students have seen the necessity of us employing the flex spaces and using converted lounges,” she said.

Bryan Gallion, a senior journalism major and RHA president, had an optimistic view of this semester’s housing situation.

“Seeing this over-elevated interest in attending Maryland is a good problem to have; the result is overcrowding,” he said.

Gallion also said that the RHA has not received many complaints about living in lounges. 

Sophie Jacobson, a freshman biology major, lives in Easton Hall in one of the lounges-turned-dorm room. She described her living conditions as the size of four normal-sized dorm rooms with lounge furniture and dressers.

“We’ve made it homey,” Jacobson said. “We each have a corner, and it’s a different experience, but it’s a cool experience. That being said, it kind of sucks to not have a lounge on the floor; it’s a lot harder to meet people.”

With the exception of Easton Hall’s first floor lounge, all of the building’s lounges are being used as dorm rooms. But Easton residents don’t frequent the first floor lounge, making it harder to meet new people, Jacobson said.

Rachel Nyakaana-Blair, a junior public health sciences major, is an RA on the seventh floor of Hagerstown Hall, where the lounge serves as a dorm room for four residents. Unlike Easton, Hagerstown still has lounges on other floors.

“It’s not as bad as I thought,” Nyakaana-Blair said. “Like if all the lounges are gone, that would be a completely different story, which is another building’s problem.”

Evan Bergstrom, a freshman chemical engineering major, is satisfied living in the lounge on the seventh floor of Hagerstown.

“It was different from what I expected, but honestly I like it better than if I had a normal room because I have AC, and like a microwave and a sink, and it’s big.” Bergstrom said.

Two of Bergstrom’s roommates agreed that they like living in the lounge, and prefer it to the other dorm rooms in Hagerstown.