Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of Diego Cintas.
As enrollment at Oregon State University grows, so does the amount of students who live on campus. This has caused overcrowding in many student dorms, as doubles become triples and space is at a premium.
OSU’s dorms have a capacity of just over 5,000 students, but with OSU’s first-year student enrollment standing at 5,625 in fall term, dorms are being pushed to their limits.
Diego Cintas is a first-year at OSU studying forestry who currently lives on the fifth floor of Finley Hall. He said that while his dorm is spacious and hasn’t been too crowded, one of his friends lives in a triple that was meant as a double in McNary Hall.
“They’re three to a room,” Cintas said. “It’s the same size as a Finley double, and they’ve got like a square foot and half (of) movable space.”
Cintas said they have such little space that his friend has to keep many of his belongings in a cardboard box.
“He has his desk, his wardrobe and a box under the desk,” Cintas said.
OSU requires first-year students to live on campus, to help them get accustomed to the school and make new connections.
“The triples are very clearly a double room that they stuck a bunk bed into and crammed three people into,” Cintas said.
Students have also had the experience of applying for a double and then receiving a triple.
“I just assumed that if I applied for a double I’d get one,” Cintas said. “Turns out that’s not true and I just got really lucky. My buddy who applied to the same floor as me on Finley didn’t get in.”
Cintas explained that, apart from the bathroom getting gross, his experience in Finley Hall has been okay. He’s enjoyed just living in a double with one roommate.
“To accommodate OSU’s growth trajectory over the past several years, (University Housing and Dining Services) has expanded housing capacity both by increasing the number of triple rooms available, and by opening new facilities, including the International Living-Learning Center in 2011 and then Tebeau Hall in 2014,” said Brian Stroup, director of operations and facilities of UHDS.
Many economy triples consist of a bunk bed, a lofted bed, three desks and three closets. All of these items, on top of each roommate’s personal belongings, need to fit in a 180-square-foot room.
Shawn Durr, a second-year student who lived in Sackett Hall during the 2022-2023 school year, described it as, “Not enough buildings, but more than enough students.”
“The main complaints that I have about the housing is the fact that it’s just ridiculously overpriced for the value,” said Milo Tisdale, a first-year student studying botany. “I’m living in an economy triple in McNary, our bathrooms are not renovated, they’re very old and outdated and our kitchen is completely terrible.”
Tisdale said that their kitchen is barely usable, which they find very frustrating as the ability to cook was something they were looking for when coming to college. They brought up that dorms like Callahan and Wilson Hall have working kitchens for residents to use.
“It’s unfair for me to be paying that same amount when my living conditions are not great,” Tisdale said.
Tisdale said that while an economy triple is a bit cheaper than a double, the reduced cost is not enough to make up for the extremely tight space.
“UHDS is working to increase housing capacity on campus so that more OSU students can live on campus, in housing best aligned with their needs,” Stroup said.
McNary Hall is one the most common for having economy triples, as many of the other halls just fit two inside a room. For example, Sackett and West Hall, both halls meant for Honors College students, are almost all doubles. These halls tend to be a bit better kept in terms of cleanliness and maintenance as well.
“It’s borderline inhumane, they way that they cram us into this space,” Tisdale said. “Especially for the price.”
