Noah Potvin, a Temple junior majoring in music therapy, said students heard the news through letters sent home a week before they returned from winter break.

"It was very short notice because now thousands of students are all looking for housing in a limited market at the same time," he said.

Students are upset at the university's decision, Potvin said.

"The general reaction is outrage, to put it bluntly," he said. "There was a protest last week with a number of students briefly blocking off Broad Street."

Temple is in the process of trying to accommodate its upperclassmen, Niven said.

"We have three private developers constructing college-suitable housing," he said. "One is open now, and the two others will be opening in the fall. The students in the new developments will be living adjacent to campus, within two blocks."

However, Potvin said people will still be left out in the dark.

"It's not nearly enough for everybody," he said. "Some are too expensive while others don't even include utilities within the rent, which is preposterous."

Niven, however, said housing is still available in the university complexes.

"As of [Wednesday], there were 94 open spaces between the three complexes," he said.

Temple also has more housing fairs scheduled for this semester, Niven said.

"We've had four already and have six more scheduled this semester," he said. "Brokers, developers, realtors ... will present a variety of listings of housing to the students."

Temple does not have plans to build more off-campus housing, Niven said.

Becky Liscusky (junior-elementary education) sympathizes with Temple students.

"I feel really bad for those students because not everyone can afford off-campus housing like an apartment," she said. "They have to sign a lease, also, that is usually for a year, and most students do not take classes all year, so they are stuck paying for the summer rental."

Lynn DuBois, Penn State associate director of housing, said it is unlikely for the university to take such action.

"We just built Eastview [Terrace] for upperclassmen. We want to offer housing to everyone that wants to live on campus. We can't house everyone, but we've been able to offer some kind of contract, even if it's supplemental," she said.

Liscusky also does not foresee Penn State kicking students off-campus.

"I could see the reason for not providing housing because more and more students want to come to this university, but Penn State is always expanding and providing more places for its students to live," she said.

DuBois said there is a process to determine who receives housing.

"How much space for each standing is determined by how many are asking and how much space is available on campus," she said. "We make it fair by chance so that way it is proportional."

Temple does not use a lottery system for everyone because it adds to students' stress, Niven said.

"The room selection process is usually held in April around finals time, and students would get upset if they found out they did not have housing for the next year," he said. "They would feel Temple has put them at a disadvantage because well over 1,000 students would not get housing."