<p>Penn</a> State University Park - Supplemental Housing</p>
<p>Information about the "Supplemental Housing" in which lounges have been converted to house 4 to 8 students. If you are lucky, maybe you will get to room with the RA!</p>
<p>The key is accepting an offer of admission as soon as you are sure that you want to attend. My D accepted in February, we sent in the deposit, and did the housing contract. By the way, she doesn’t know any current freshmen that have supplemental housing.</p>
<p>Holy cow, that sucks.</p>
<p>According to both of my kids who now attend PSU, a vast majority of the students who are in supplemental housing actually like it because the rooms are converted lounges that have a lot of space and they like having 5 or 6 instant friands. Some of the housing folks say they actually have a hard time convincing the supplemental housing students to move into a “normal” two person room when a space opens up. Also, room rates are cheaper.</p>
<p>I have also heard this. ^^^</p>
<p>As someone who has actually gone through it, I can say that it honestly sucked!</p>
<p>yupper, you were in supplemental even though you are in the honors college?</p>
<p>My daughter was in a regular double and it honestly SUCKED~roommate was a spoiled, passive aggressive witch! </p>
<p>So what is the point of this post? Many, many university have supplemental housing. Who can afford to have rooms sit empty? All schools have students who don’t show up or drop out early in the semester. Some Universities use the lounges like PSU others stick a third person in a double room, 3 girls - 2 closets, try telling me that is fun. Apply early, deal with deadlines, make the best of the situation you end up in.</p>
<p>Well said, though there have been years recently when PSU was so far off in their yield forecasting that, among other things, they tried to buy back the housing contracts of kids within commuting distance (without much success).</p>
<p>Kent State in Ohio did the same thing (offered an incentive $$ for upperclassmen to give up a housing contract) in 2011.</p>
<p>I have to say, when I was at UIUC back in the seventies they did the same thing. I’m not sure why people get so up in arms about it. It beats the alternative-- empty rooms and higher costs.</p>
<p>Can graduate students be assigned to supplemental housing?</p>
<p>I was at Penn State in the mid-1990s.</p>
<p>They used lounges for excess and surplus student housing back then.</p>
<p>This is not news.</p>
<p>I was in a regular double in the honors dorm with an alcoholic who went to jail over winter break. I would have preferred to be in a lounge with a ton of people.</p>
<p>Grad students have a separate system and are not guaranteed housing. (PSU freshman are required to live on campus.) If a grad student wants PSU housing and it is full they have to find something off campus. There is probably a waiting list for on campus housing in the event that it is full.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend not going to a school for this reason. if you joined the army and you are in boot camp yeah that is what happens (more like 25 or 30 people)</p>
<p>^^Huh. “Highly recommend” is strong language. Some students do prefer some of the supplemental housing because there is a lot more space, and they figure the chances of getting along with someone is better in a bigger group. I was also very suspcious but it is way cheaper as well, and for some people it’s the difference between attending and not affording it. As in all things, it just depends on the student. (And most supplemental housing empties out of anyone who really wants out)</p>
<p>My son chose PSU because, among other things, it had one of the top two programs in his area. To pass that up because of a few months in a less than perfect living situation would have been short-sighted at best. My oldest spent his freshman year (at another school) in a room only large enough for bunk beds, one desk and one dresser; the other desk, dresser and bookshelves had to go in the common room. He eventually moved to a more spacious room and meanwhile got a great education that led to graduate school at MIT.</p>
<p>If a person is not willing to suffer some small inconveniences to reach their goals chances are they will not achieve much in life.</p>
<p>I understand that exactly predicting yield is impossible.</p>
<p>But my daughter and I have visited a few schools recently and it seems that there is a common thread of “over booking” at the larger institutions. There are several triples and housing is only guaranteed for one or two years. To me, not a good way to run things.</p>
<p>It doesn’t seam like it, however, larger institutions end up accepting more students than can fit in their dorms, because the can’t predict exactly how many will actually accept the offer of admission. So, in years where a school has a larger enrollment, supplemental housing is more wide spread.</p>
<p>As for guaranteed housing for all 40,000 students at Penn State, or other big institutions like it, that doesn’t really make sense, financially, or logistically. Most campuses only have some much space for dorms and academic buildings, and seeing as they are primarily academic institutions, they can leave some of the housing to the surrounding real estate market. Not to mention, most college kids benefit from the process of paying rent in an apartment or house before they leave college.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would rather be guaranteed housing, even if it is a converted lounge, than have to find an apartment by myself. As a freshman in college, you have enough to worry about and adjust to without worrying about finding a home. It could be really expensive, far away from campus, and you might have to go looking for a roommate to share the rent with. I personally think supplemental housing sounds better than being in a normal dorm room. You get instant friends, as some have said. (:</p>