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University Overcrowded; Students Living In Study Rooms

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – Some students at the University of Arkansas are sleeping in common areas of the dorm buildings, areas normally used for student study room...

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – Some students at the University of Arkansas are sleeping in common areas of the dorm buildings, areas normally used for student study rooms.

Campus officials tell 5NEWS this is an issue they are working to fix quickly.

According to the university, some students are staying in the study rooms because of an unexpected high-rate of enrollment.

“They don`t get to have an actual dorm experience because they`re not living in an actual dorm,” said Amber Chatham, a sophomore at the university.

Many of the common rooms have glass walls along the hallways.

“It is not meant to be a dorm room, it is meant to be a study room,” said Kelsey Gomez, a sophomore at the university.

According to the university, more female students accepted attendance offers, surpassing their normal limit by 72 students.

“The freshman class was larger than expected,” said Steve Voorhies, Media Relations Manager at the University of Arkansas.

The university says that the 2018 freshman class is 55 percent female, 45 percent male.

The claim the cause of the overcrowding among female students in dormitories is caused by some students accepting offers late.

“Some students were late in getting their contracts in,” Voorhies said.

Therefore, some students who turned their student contracts in late are now living in the common rooms.

“[The rooms] have been converted into residence halls rooms,” Voorhies said. “They have locks on the doors, they have beds. [Students] aren`t sleeping on the floor, or anything. Paper has been put up over the windows so students have privacy.”

However, 5NEWS spoke to some students who say they think that the paper walls are not enough to make them comfortable with that living situation.

“That would make me uncomfortable, just knowing it is not supposed to be a dorm room,” Gomez said.

“It doesn`t cover all the [windows]. You can go and peek through the top corner,” Chatham said. “I wouldn`t be comfortable. That is supposed to be your own private space where you can get away from everything.”

The university says these living situations are temporary, as they are placing students in rooms as vacancy comes.

The university hopes to have the 14 students remaining in common rooms placed in regular bedrooms in the next few weeks.

This is not the first time this has happened at the Fayetteville campus. School officials confirmed to 5NEWS that they have dealt with overpopulation in past years.

Therefore, the university provides lowered rates on housing services for those displaced.

One student tells 5NEWS that he knows some of those female students who are living in the special rooms.

“They`re actually pretty fine with it, because they know it is a temporary thing,” said Christian Rodriguez, a freshman at the university.

The University of Arkansas says they are working diligently to try and make sure this doesn’t happen again in the future.

“There will be adjustments,” Voorhies said.

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