It's Valentine's Day, often a time to spend quality private time with sweethearts. But when a college student decides to woo that special someone with an evening filled with roses and soft lighting so it will be a night to remember, there can be one thing standing in the way of the perfect night — the roommates.

For many students living in the dorms or sharing a room in an apartment, getting time alone with a significant other can become the biggest problem on Valentine's Day. Roommates can find themselves in a compromising position if more than one of them have sweethearts they want to share their Valentine's Day with, but have access to only one room.

"On Valentine's Day we would set up different times, and while one person went out to dinner, the other one was spending time alone in the room," said Trish Shellenberger (graduate-training and development) of her days in the dorms.

She said things did not always work according to plan.

"A lot of times, all of the couples just ended up hanging out with each other in the end of the night," she said.

Some students said they voluntarily would leave the room so their roommates can have privacy.

"On Valentine's Day, I plan on going out to dinner with some of my friends and I will stay out of our room for most of the night so my roommate can spend time with her boyfriend," Liz Weiss (freshman-division of undergraduate studies) said.

Other students said that although they have never had to leave the room so their roommates could have privacy, they would gladly leave on such a special day.

"If my roommate asked me to leave on Valentine's Day, I would be more than happy to do so for her. She has been nothing but considerate with her boyfriend," said Sarah Kernion (freshman-health and human development).

Although some students say they can be very understanding, others are not so eager to leave their rooms to accommodate their roommates.

"I had a friend in my dorm that would divide the room with a bed sheet in order to get privacy on special occasions," Richard Dexter (junior-accounting) said.

In fact, holidays such as Valentine's Day can leave roommates with feelings of resentment because they feel pressured to accommodate their roommates.

"When I was a freshman, I had a roommate that had a boyfriend who would sleep over every night, but when I had people over she would get mad at me," said Tracey Dungee (junior-psychology and fine arts).

Because Valentine's Day is such a private holiday, Bart Kleczynski (junior-computer science), a resident assistant, suggested that roommates discuss their plans beforehand.

"In order to avoid problems, you should decide who gets to use the room when, and coordinate it. You should both help each other out," he said.