<p>My son, now a Junior at PSU, was assigned to supplemental housing as a Freshman. He ended up loving it! When they were offered the opportunity to move into regular rooms for second semester, all of them chose to remain in their giant room.</p>
<p>My freshman year at Emory’s Oxford College (where students are required to live on campus) several of us were assigned to “specialized triples.” Three people were assigned a room intended for two. In other buildings, study rooms were converted to ad-hoc dorms, but no more than 4 people were assigned to each of such rooms.</p>
<p>Everyone in the converted study rooms was moved to traditional housing before the end of the semester, and those of us in “forced triples” were given a significant discount, a laundry plan, and high priority in housing the next year. It wasn’t bad at all. And this year, we instituted Early Decision for the first time and there were no specialized triples or converted study rooms this year.</p>
<p>I mean, at least you will have more than one person to talk to, especially if you live in a double and have a horrible roommate.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This sounds like the housing people trying to put a nice face on a ridiculous situation. What excuse do they have for their poor planning?</p>
<p>The “excuse” that ALL universities use is that college admissions is not an exact science. Penn State has 13,000 housing spots just at University Park. If they are off by 1% that is a lot of empty beds or kids in supplemental. Smaller schools don’t necessarily do a better job, their numbers are just smaller. My son has 2 friends who love their supplemental room although both are guys which may make a difference. Being in supplemental housing can work out great or lead to roommate nightmares~just like any dorm room. I still say I would rather be in lounge than the double turned into a triple like some other schools do~3 girls, 2 closets and dressers, that’s going to work great, NOT. </p>
<p>I googled Penn State Supplemental housing and this blog entry was the first thing to come up:</p>
<p>Sorority Six</p>
<p>So, its my first year at Penn State (yay!) and I’m living in supplemental housing. Usually when I tell people that they all give some dismal sort of “ohh…” sound effect, but we all get along great and I love them :). </p>
<p>P.S: Our room is pretty sweet. “Bdass,” as Becca would say.</p>
<p>Ah, LakeClouds, we’ve so missed your helpful and insightful posts here on the Penn State forum. Welcome back! ;)</p>
<p>Yikes! Hope everyone cleans up after themselves!</p>
<p>At other colleges, I’ve heard it said that “when we offer people a chance to leave triples” they turn it down. The reason is that people don’t want to leave their friends on their hall and start with an entirely new group - typically the opening for a regular room will be in a completely different dorm or a different floor of the building.</p>
<p>Many colleges use triples, particularly if they know they will have many students drop out. </p>
<p>There was an academic study of students in triples. The main conclusion was that students who live in triples go home more often.</p>
<p>I was a freshman at Penn State in 1978 and they had the same temporary housing then. Nothing new, as others said. I went to a lot of fun parties in those study lounges. No one seemed too inconvenienced to be in temp housing for a few months. It was a great way to meet people.</p>
<p>@1moremom I enrolled late.</p>
<p>The more I read about supplemental housing at PSU the more I would almost prefer it if I get in.</p>
<p>@1moremom - nice to see you spreading your vitriol again.</p>
<p>I thought you were permanently on the Sandusky thread serving as a PSU appologist and defending great guys like Spanier.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I may have seen this pearl of wisdom on a fortune cookie.</p>
<p>Remember everyone, don’t feed the ■■■■■ ;)</p>
<p>All out of ■■■■■ food!</p>
<p>LakeClouds, perhaps you should reread my posts on that thread as I have never done either of those things.</p>
<p>I only intended a little good natured ribbing; vitriol is not really my style. My apologies as you obviously took it more seriously.</p>
<p><<i only="" intended="" a="" little="" good="" natured="" ribbing="">></i></p><i only="" intended="" a="" little="" good="" natured="" ribbing="">
<p>That’s certainly the way I interpreted your comment.</p>
</i>
<p>Way back, when I was on campus, I had a few friends who lived in Simmons (and another dorm nearby). They were all-female dorms back then. And they were crammed four or five in a small room (with bunk beds). I can vividly remember one really tiny room in particular that was so crowded it otherwise would have looked like a furniture storage closest. Sad to hear things have not really improved much in all these years.</p>
<p>I have a relative who attended Penn State in the early 1970s who swears that she was housed in a converted chicken coup.</p>
<p>Well, unless you meant that the chickens orchestrated a military takeover 
, I think you meant a chicken coop.</p>
<p>[chicken</a> coop - definition of chicken coop by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.](<a href=“Chicken coop]chicken - definition of chicken coop]chicken by The Free Dictionary”>Chicken coop - definition of chicken coop by The Free Dictionary)</p>
<p>[Chicken</a> coop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_coop]Chicken”>Poultry farming - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>And, I don’t know about housing students in a chicken coop, but Poultry Science is very big at Penn State:</p>
<p>[Buildings</a> — Animal Science — Penn State University](<a href=“Farms and Facilities — About the Department — Department of Animal Science”>Poultry Education and Research Center — About the Department — Department of Animal Science)</p>
<p>My daughter just graduated in May 2012. She was in a normal “double” her freshman year, but “Supp” was where they all hung out and made a lot of their friends. Her sophomore year, very last minute, she was assigned to supplemental. Some her best friends were from that room, and now that they have graduated and are spread around the country, they stay in very close touch - I venture to guess that some might be bridesmaids in each others’ weddings!! They lost a few roommates (of the original 8) as the semester went on, but the 4 or 5 who were close would not have dreamt of moving. Of her 4 years, this was probably the best and most enjoyable living situation she had. </p>
<p>My son, who is currently a junior, also got supplemental in his junior year. It wasn’t the total bonding experience of my daughter, but it went completely fine, and was a good experience for him.</p>
<p>Life is full of things that don’t go as you expect they will, and for my kids, I think this was a good chance to learn that lesson and adapt - and turn it into a positive experience. It was also a great chance for them to experience a situation where a lot of different personalities had to work together, with give and take, to make things work. My youngest son will be attending Penn State next year, and I will be happy if he gets supplemental.</p>