An unprecedented boom in on-campus housing contracts for this year has forced Penn State to cram more students into supplemental housing and to partner some resident assistants with freshman roommates to start the semester.

Hundreds of students have been affected in some way due to the increase in students requesting on-campus housing.

"This year, more students chose to live on campus, and more high school students accepted their admission to the University Park campus," said Residence Life Director Diane Andrews.

One solution to the problem has been to pair RAs with student roommates in East Halls, Andrews said. If housing is unable to relocate the freshmen, a compensation package will be offered to the RAs, who usually have their own rooms. Andrews said she could not comment on the specifics of the package.

Vivek Babaria (senior-premedicine), an East Halls RA, said having a freshman roommate is an inconvenience.

"As an RA, I'm supposed to meet with students in my room, but I can't kick my roommate out or anything," he said.

There are 43 RAs living with first-year students in East Halls, but it is only a temporary situation, Andrews said.

"Those first-year students will be the first students on campus to move into new rooms, once something opens up," she said.

Brittany Malcolm (freshman-division of undergraduate studies), who lives in East Halls and has a resident assistant for a roommate, said there are both advantages and disadvantages to her situation.

"I feel like I have to be cautious because my roommate is an RA, so I try not to do anything wrong," she said. "But it is nice to have someone older to help you out if you don't know where you are going."

Babaria added that he thinks the situation is worse for first-year students who have to live with a resident assistant. "A first-year student who lives with an RA isn't able to make that kind of lifetime friendship that only happens through living with another first-year student," Babaria said.

Associate Housing Director Lynn DuBois said the university is putting more students in supplemental housing this year because of the room shortage.

About 875 students are living in supplemental housing today, an increase from 608 students in supplemental housing at this time last year, she said.

DuBois said that some undergraduate students were also offered rooms in graduate apartments.

Carrie Adams (freshman-education), who lives in a supplemental room in Pollock Halls with seven other first-year students, said she doesn't know when she will be moved into a regular room.

"We were told that we could start moving out in as early as four weeks, but it could take until the end of the semester," she said.

Adams said that while she originally wanted to live in East Halls, she doesn't mind having a supplemental room.

Brandon Armstrong (sophomore-food science), who lives in North Halls with six roommates, said he has mixed feelings about living in a supplemental room.

"It's better than I thought it would be, but I can't see myself living like this for a whole semester," he said.

He added that because he lives with six other students, he will have to rearrange his daily schedule.

"We have to get the alarm clocks figured out," he said.

Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said the university has also allowed some upper-classman students to cancel their housing contracts to free up more housing for other students.

"We are looking for ways to get students into regular housing situations," Mahon said.