Hi There,
We just finished moving our oldest into his dorm room. Yay! We were somewhat shocked to see that it was less than 120 sqft for 3 men. With the furniture this means less than 45 soft of circulation space… I’m guessing this might be fairly normal but when we walked down the hall we could see rooms double this size with only 2 occupants?! What the heck. He asked for a double but was originally assigned a “large tripe” which this obviously can’t be. Even the space between the beds is tight and if anyone is using their desk they have to ask them to move so they can walk by. Question is… would you say anything to the college? Is it time for mom to back out? btw… screen name is my own personal joke. 
Many times when colleges have an over-enrolled freshman class some students get put into forced triples – that may well be what your son’s situation. Often these forced triples they are tight and yet often they make it work. They could get “de-tripled” at some point during the year.
I would let your son take it from here other than perhaps asking ResLife if there will be any discount on the housing due to the triple.
This was my experience for all three 2-UCLA and 1-UCB. Mine requested doubles and assigned forced triples (we did pay a bit less)
Housing was guaranteed. Students rank the various choices on the housing app and for “guaranteed” your choice is to agree to anything.
This was probably something he could have researched ahead, Reddit etc? At unis where housing is tight, these are the breaks. I assume for some of these schools not even money helps that much. When my first kid went off to a big public OOS school he was placed in a single with a shared common room for just 2 of them, and that wasn’t our choice either LOL (his preference was shared doubles, cheapest option). I just assumed they did that to full pay families who didn’t make a fuss because they had too many singles rooms to fill.
My son’s freshman year triple was about the same size, but it had always been a triple and the doubles were commensurately smaller. In other words, everyone had a tiny room!
I would check first to see if there are floor plans on line to confirm both the size of your kid’s room and the others you think are bigger. Then I would let them handle it.
Maybe they can have first dibs on a larger triple if one opens up (when students go abroad in spring? Maybe they can ask to the top numbers in next year’s housing lottery? If they stay put, you could request a discount.
Housing varies so much from school to school – what works at one may not be viable at another.
What school/dorm - is there a room layout online that provides the dimensions? My D’s room showed 16x11, with 4 of the 16 being the entry with closets on both sides. So 176 total, but 132 of “floor” space.
176 was pretty small - I can’t imagine even building a room that is smaller than 12x10 exterior dimensions.
^^My son’s does. Every dorm. It’s in the part of the website that relates to room draw.
I’m not saying every school does this, but some do. And it shows entries and closets (and I think windows.) As well as # of students expected to live there.
Very common, especially at schools that are seeing unpredicted increases in yield. My D was in a triple turned quad. We got a big discount on the room and board bill and she and the three roommates loved their room and had a super year.
One of the dorms at my D’s school are have some rooms called the “closets” because they are so tiny. Flip side, they are cheaper and closer to campus, so some kids love living there.
I also thing square footage doesn’t tell the whole story. My d’s double this year, is technically a good amount larger than her half of the quad last year but there are drop down ceilings in sections of the room that made it impossible to loft the beds, and the school provided furniture is much bigger than her last dorm. As a result, the bigger room feels much more cramped because they have so much less floor space. That said, the girls ADORE their room and say that it feels homey and cozy.
In my experience, it’s usually parents who are more concerned/worried about dorm space, but the students adapt quickly.
Thank you for all the responses!! Is there a way to add a photo to this string? As far as comparing to others there are no exact floor plans online only a video of a large triple with the note that the rooms may vary in size, furniture layout etc. we walked into the dorms across the hall and we did not need to measure to see that it was twice the size. I was an interior designer for a living to it’s easy for me to estimate visually. Anyway I guess I’m just frustrated that my son will live in a closet for the same price that others get a “normal” size room just across the hall. No discount was offered and yet facilities told us it was the smallest room in the college.?!?!?
Are there bunk beds? If not, see if the school offers them.
And let the kids adapt.
There is one bunk bed, one loft bed over a desk/wardrobe, then two other sets of desk/wardrobe. The two beds are separated by a 24” hallway. In order for one roommate to get to his bed he will have to ask my son to move his chair if he is working at his desk. For my son to leave the room he will have to ask the roommate whose desk is under the loft bed to move his chair out of the way so my son can pass. This is how they will live all year. Really the only solution i can see is just to use the room as as a sleeping and storage space. Problem is there are no community room to hang out in. He will study in the library.
What school is this where there are no community spaces?
My son and his friends (and I suspect the college) endorsed the idea of a room for sleeping and storage. Studying and socializing happened elsewhere. But I hear you if that is not a universally shared experience for freshmen. Are you also sure that the bigger rooms were for freshmen?
He is at UCSC, Merrill College. As far as I can tell there are lounges but you can only access them with a reservation. Maybe I’m missing a common hangout space in his building but I think they turned those into dorm rooms.
No not 100% sure but his two good friends have ridiculously large rooms by comparison and they are both freshmen but were placed in different residential colleges. I suspect I just need to back out but I may at least have a discussion with the housing director on the lack of equality given the fact that I’m paying as much or more than his friends parents are. 
This sounds tough, my sympathies. Both of mine started with 4 kids in a single dorm room, with two bunkbeds, and if kids on either side swang their leg over the bed sides, their knees would nearly touch. But, there was an adjoining room for desks. (Add to that, 4’ or so of closet space total, for four gals.)
The “reservations” for the common room may be to get a desk. Are their also sitting study/reading areas in that room?
I’m going to guess that, if this overloadingis common now, the list for room reassignments is already long, but he can try.
My son did do research beforehand and filled out the survey. He didn’t get any of his ranked choices. Not the residential college or type of room or even roommates with similar schedules. He has rarely seen the clock earlier than 7am and has a roommate the gets up at 5am. Bad for the early riser and the other two who want to sleep. I guess they do the best they can and someone is going to stuck with the smallest room but it just seemed like they gave no thought as to which room they added another bed to. Rooms across the hall clearly had enough room for a triple. Oh well, he will have good stories to tell.
UCSC has had a housing problem the last few years. They have even asked their Faculty to house students so he is probably lucky that he does have on-campus housing. It is only for 1 year and always seem to adapt.
https://sf.curbed.com/2018/9/4/17819898/ucsc-housing-faculty-crisis-santa-cruz-students-roommates
Wow. Thanks for the link. Though I know it happens at other UC’s, I had not heard about the housing shortage at UCSC. Thrilled he has a place to live but still doesn’t make up for the fact that I’m paying more for much much less. There should be some way to make it more equitable.
I’m all for being adaptable, but this room decription had me feeling kind of panicky/claustrophobic.
At risk of being “that” parent I would want to find out what the particular reason (if any) THIS room was chosen to turn into a triple rather than a larger one. And why that decision can’t be modified. That room seems plenty small even as a double. Is there at least a decent-size window? Not to have a common space in the dorm, either, would be too much for me.
There must be legal limits to how many people can be stashed into a space. I’d like to know what that is …