As a freshman, Maureen Canavan (junior-biology) was assigned to supplemental housing instead of a traditional dorm room.

Instead of a closet, she and six other women hung their clothes on a shared bar, and they had only one phone line to use.

Canavan moved out of supplemental housing after about two weeks, but other students remain in converted study lounges for the whole semester, or possibly into the next.

Due to a demand for spaces in dorms that exceeds the supply, a certain number of Penn State students living on campus are assigned to supplemental housing each semester.

Presently, there are about 360 Penn State students living in supplemental housing.

In the transition from Fall Semester, students received a survey to determine their preferences for the spring.

Kathy Krinks, manager of the Assignment Office for Campus Residences, said the students who returned their surveys, for the most part, received their preferences.

Those who did not return their surveys were fitted into housing according to the space available.

Krinks defined supplemental housing as "study rooms converted into student accommodations in order to provide more space for students who wish to live on campus."

Often, transfer students find themselves assigned to supplemental housing when first coming to the Penn State University Park campus.

"It's four guys that you get to meet when you come from not knowing anyone," said Tim Richard (sophomore-geoscience), a transfer student currently living in supplemental housing.

The university offers supplemental housing to accommodate students who request to live on campus but can't be assigned to already-filled traditional rooms.

Krinks explained that as space becomes available, students in supplemental housing are offered the chance to move to a dorm room.

The process of assessing the available space first involves seeing which students return to the university the following semester, and which students do not.

The space saved for those who unexpectedly do not return can then be offered up to those students in supplemental housing.

But first, a list must be compiled of all the available living space.

The process of gathering this information is in progress, Krinks said.

As classes begin, the university can see which students have returned for the semester and, conversely, which have left.

Students in supplemental housing are then given a chance to move from study lounges to the more permanent available rooms.

"It's a weird place to live, but there's a lot of room," Richard said of his supplemental housing space.

Right now, Richard is one of four students in the study lounge, which, according to his roommate Adrian Kryzanowsky (junior-kinesiology), is comfortable.

"For four people, it's pretty good, but for any more, it's kind of crowded," Kryzanowsky said.

When Richard first learned of his room assignment, he was somewhat disappointed, but now, he said he's happy to stay there for the rest of the semester.

With the list of available spaces open for students currently living in supplemental housing, the next step will be to match the more permanent rooms with the students who request them.

Krinks said that this should be occurring within the next few days.

"Now that classes have started, we have begun to receive the lists of available spaces," Krinks said.

In the meantime, students in supplemental housing are waiting to hear if and when they'll be moving into a traditional room.

"You don't have any type of permanence," Canavan said, recalling her experience with supplemental housing.

Although the wait can be unnerving and the lack of privacy can seem unappealing, a positive aspect of living in supplemental housing is the opportunity to immediately meet different people.

"I knew five girls right from the start. There was always someone around to go to dinner with," Canavan said.

Canavan has stayed in touch with some of the women she met during her time in supplemental housing. "One of the girls is now one of my best friends."