While the option was open for students to relocate out of converted lounge spaces or tripled rooms in university dormitories this semester, some students like Alison Deathe chose not to leave.

Deathe, a freshman fashion merchandising major, lived in a tripled room in Foster Hall last fall and was contacted during the fall about available vacancies, but declined the option to move.

“I was e-mailed about vacancies, but chose to stay where I am,” Deathe said. “Space is an issue, but I love living in a triple and living with my friends.”

According to an Aug. 25 Skiff article, 183 students lived in triple occupancy rooms that were originally intended for two people during the fall semester.

Craig Allen, director of Housing and Residence Life, said 30 students are currently living in converted lounges and want to stay in those lounges. Out of those 30 students, 10 are located in Sherley Hall.

“Other than not having a sink in the room, it’s a pretty nice setup,” Allen said of the Sherley lounges.

Students living in converted lounges or tripled rooms become connected to the people they’re living with, to their floor and to their hall, Allen said.

“So unless they can move out into a room in their building, or on their floor or with one of the two people they’re living with, they don’t want to leave their room,” Allen said.

Heather Miller, associate director of Housing and Residence Life, said students were offered opportunities in the fall to be reassigned but were not forced to move if they didn’t want to leave.

“Traditional housing is tight on space,” Miller said. “But many of the lounges have been vacated, and students in tripled rooms have been reassigned. It’s not nearly like it was in the beginning of fall semester.”

Beau Tiongson, a freshman film-TV-digital media major, wrote in an e-mail that he spent last semester living with six other roommates in a lounge in Waits Hall. This semester, he wrote that he would continue living in his lounge even though three of his roommates had moved out.

Tiongson wrote that he received an offer to move out of the lounge, but said he wanted to stay. Three of his roommates left solely because of the lack of space, he wrote.

Allen said vacancies in double-occupancy rooms were scattered on campus and openings were available in Brachman, Wiggins, Colby, Foster and Waits halls. More vacancies are available in female dorms rather than male dorms.

“Students who we think will be coming back will return to campus to move out (of the university) without telling us,” Allen said. “That will add up to about 10 to 15 extra vacancies.”

Vacancy numbers will continue to fluctuate as the spring semester commences, Allen said.