NEWS: transitional housing

After Michigan State University’s record-high incoming freshman class forced overcrowding in dorm rooms, there are now zero students living in transitional housing situations.

MSU welcomed 11,054 new undergraduates this fall, an all-time high for the institution. But with that positive statistic for the university came a negative reality for its students. Transitional housing–a temporary living situation that houses one extra student more than the room typically accommodates–was estimated to impact 15% of incoming students, according to the university.

Kat Cooper, MSU’s chief communications officer, said that transitional housing “is very common for MSU to experience” and that predicting the number of students that will commit to the university is not an exact science.

“The university offers admission to a certain number of students,” Cooper said. “In order to get enough people to show up on the first day, we have to say yes to more people than we think are actually going to come. Sometimes those two numbers are not exactly in alignment. Every once in a while, more people show up than we think are going to.”

While transitional housing affected the incoming class at the beginning of the semester, there are currently no students in such circumstances. Some students host an extra person in their dorm, but only because they choose to.

“We have a little over 70 rooms where students have chosen to stay assigned three to a space,” Cooper said. “That’s no longer considered a transitional arrangement–that’s a permanent arrangement. They get a reduced rate for the rest of the year, and some have made lifelong friends out of that extra person they got to meet.”

Though these situations have been sorted out for the fall semester, East neighborhood housing specialist Aris Bailey has concerns that the demand of MSU’s historically large incoming class and the limited beds on campus will continue this pattern for the spring semester.

“Unfortunately, things won’t really get better because spring 2023’s new admits will be affected by transitional housing, so we’ll be going through that whole cycle again,” Bailey said. “More students are continuing to be admitted, so it’s not getting better. The only positive is that our team is able to manage it better.”

Bailey said the most upsetting aspect of her job is being on the receiving end of students’ and parents’ frustrations with their unfavorable housing arrangement. Nathan Green, an Akers Hall resident and freshman studying journalism, said that when he got his housing assignment, he was one of those frustrated students.

“I was a little upset about it,” Green said. “I don’t particularly think Michigan State did the greatest job of organizing the rooming situation. A lot of people on my floor only had three other roommates, while I applied the day the rooming situation came out and I got stuck with the worst-case scenario.”

Akers Hall—one of the targeted areas for transitional housing—is a quad-style dorm featuring a living area. Green and his roommates decided that one roommate would set up his bed and desk in the living area. 

Alternatively, chemical engineering freshman Peter Lawrence shares a bunk bed with a roommate. Lawrence said that sharing the space with an extra person didn’t bother him, especially considering the friendships he’s gained from living in such close quarters.

“It feels cozy, not claustrophobic,” Lawrence said. “I don’t have any bad thoughts about it and I don’t want to move out. I want to stay with my roommates because I like them.”

Though Green was initially unsatisfied with his housing arrangement, it turned out better than he’d expected. His fifth roommate moved out less than a week ago into a traditional housing situation. Green and his roommates have wasted no time “decking out” the space his roommate was previously occupying.

“Surprisingly, it wasn’t as big of a problem as I thought it’d be,” Green said. “Sure, there’d be times when I’d have to wait a little longer for someone to get out of the shower, but other than that, there really wasn’t much of a problem. Everyone in my room is a decent person, so there was no conflict.”

Both he and Lawrence said that transitional housing was simply something that called for flexibility and patience.

“I consider myself a minimalist, so I took what I got and went with it,” Lawrence said. “This has just become the normal for me.”