Rob CainRebecca Clark sits at her desk in Xavier Hall scanning the room with her eyes. To her right are two bunk beds, across the room is a lofted bed with a desk under it, and to her left are two closets. Between the closets is a large dresser for her third roommate to put clothes in, since the room was originally meant to be a double. But this does not bother Clark.
“It’s not that bad,” Clark said. She is a sophomore transfer student from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. “Three closets would be easier, but it’s not a big problem.”
Clark is hardly alone with having to live with three people in a double room. Almost all the rooms in Woodcrest, Xavier and New Residence Halls have one more person than it usually should because of additional resident students.
According to the Residence Life office, the college has 117 more residents this academic year than last year, bringing its total to 938 resident students as opposed to 821 students the year before.
Cabrini is not alone in the increase of students. Other area colleges are tripling double rooms, for instance Clark’s old college, Quinnipiac University.
Although there is an approximate 13 percent increase in resident students, the Residence Life office says Woodcrest, Xavier and New Residence Halls are housing about as many first-year students this year as last.
“We have housed a total of 380 incoming transfer and first-year students in Woodcrest, Xavier and New Residence Hall,” Angie Hodgeman, assistant director of Resident Life, said. “The number is comparable to that of last year’s incoming class.”
The surge of resident students has caused Residence Life to turn the common areas at the end of every wing in New Residence Hall into triple rooms. The houses, with the exception of Houses One and Three, also have upper-class students living in the common areas.
With all the resident students on campus, there have been rumors of a possible addition to the Cabrini Apartment Complex or the building of a brand new residence hall. Residence Life says no plans are definite at this time.
“The building of a new residential facility is a priority for Cabrini College right now,” Hogdeman said. “The board has been meeting to discuss options, but no definite plans of where it will be built, which classes it will be for, or how many students it will house have been determined.”
While many students thought living with one more person than they were supposed to would be a problem, a surprising number are happy with the results.
“It is really not as bad as I thought it was going to be,” freshman Bill Elder, who lives in Xavier Hall, said. “All of my stuff is under my bed-it saves a lot of room.”
The recent increase in resident students has meant a lot of extra hours for the entire residence life staff, which consists of Hodgeman, Resident Director George Stroud, secretary Patti Snyder, 28 Resident Assistants and three Area Coordinators, but the extra hours are paying off.
“The influx in the residential population is indicative of the students’ desire to remain on campus after their first year,” Hogdeman said. “This is exciting for us as a department to see so many students interested in living on campus.”
