Hunter
8/23/19
Over 100 University of Iowa students are arriving on campus to find that their residence calls are over capacity and they’ll start the school year sharing lounge space instead of dorm rooms.
It’s the first time since 2017 that the school has had to resort to what they call “expanded housing.”
The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that officials with the UI residence system projected occupancy rates below 100 percent for at least the next five years. The residence system has an operating capacity of 6660 students, and they were expecting less than 6100 on campus this fall back in February.
Spokeswoman Haley Bruce said that many of the 106 students who will start the year sharing lounge space with six to eight other students could still be there for the first two months of the school year.
Those in expanded housing all applied for housing after May 2nd.
The other two state-run universities have plenty of room. UNI says they’re at about 85 percent capacity, while at Iowa State they’re at 93 percent occupancy.