Though fewer students are living in temporary housing than did last semester, roughly 50 still remain in overflow spaces such as kitchens and converted lounges, according to Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services.
More students left campus last fall than returned this spring, freeing up rooms across the campus, he said.
"Lots of different people leave and come back for different reasons — study abroad, medical leaves, personal leaves, employment leaves, suspensions, academic dismissals," Bova said.
Last semester, 195 students studied abroad, while 232 students are abroad this semester, according to Kendall Brostuen, director of the international programs and associate dean of the College.
Some of the 50 students currently housed in temporary living spaces said they do not want to move elsewhere because the remaining vacant rooms are triples, quads, half-empty doubles or in freshmen halls, Bova said.
"We have folks who are living together in temporary spaces that are probably living in a better situation than going into a triple or a quad with people they don't know," he said.
"We have such varied housing," said Max Monn '12, a former Herald photo editor who lived in a converted lounge last year. "You can get something really awesome, or you can get something absolutely terrible."
"Privacy wise, getting work done, it definitely wasn't ideal," he said of his room last year. "You get really used to headphones really fast, really used to listening to loud music to block out whatever else is going on in the room."
"We dealt with it," he said. "It ended up being not as bad as we thought it would be."
