Campus housing at maximum capacity

This fall, some first-time West Virginia University students may not have a home in one of the on-campus residence halls.

The University announced housing was at full capacity and ceased accepting housing applications for the 2012-13 school year June 15. Some students have been placed on a waiting list, while others have been referred to off-campus housing.

According to the WVU housing website, all single, first-year students are required to live in University housing. In addition, transfer students with fewer than 29 transferable credit hours are also required to live on campus. However, housing is only available on a first come, first serve basis.

"On-campus housing is at full capacity; however, this is an issue that typically happens this time of year," said WVU Residence Hall Association president Walter Hardy. "The way Morgantown is structured, there is just more off-campus housing and not enough on-campus housing for upperclassmen."

Hardy said for the first month of the fall semester some students would be placed into makeshift rooms in the lobby areas of Towers, which make up the Evansdale Residential Complex, until space becomes available.

While limited housing is not a new problem for the University, Hardy said there are currently no plans to expand the on-campus housing opportunities for students.

"The new Evansdale Master Plan does not call for expansion of the current residence halls," he said. " There are plans to add research zones, academic zones and recreational zones, but in their plans for the next five to 10 years residential zones have not been evaluated."