Last Thursday afternoon, it might have been easy to confuse University Park for Times Square in New York.

On Bigler Road, a line of traffic stretched from Curtin Road all the way down to the Nittany Apartments. Some drivers exasperatedly talked on their cell phones in their idle automobiles, while others stared straight ahead while picking at their fingernails.

Pedestrians streamed through the sidewalks and streets, some with ease, others looking hurried and panic-stricken.

Such is the scene in University Park at the end of each August, when students are gradually filing into their new homes.

But this year, it was a little more crowded.

"We anticipate this being the largest freshman class at University Park," said Patrick Smith, a spokesman for the undergraduate admissions office. As of Aug. 28, 8,302 freshman had accepted offers of admission to Penn State. That count is not official, Smith added, since a "final census" of which students are registered and taking classes will not be available until October.

According to the Penn State Fact Book online, available at www.budget.psu.edu, there were 6,489 freshmen at University Park last year.

The increase in freshman has meant that a number of departments throughout the university have had to make adjustments.

"We have met the need by increasing the number of [class] sections," said Karen Duncan, senior associate registrar.

Classes taken by freshmen to fulfill general education requirements saw the largest increase in the number of sections offered, Duncan added. The registrar's office added 32 sections of Spanish 3: Intermediate Spanish, 25 first-year seminar sections, 24 sections of Spanish 2: Elementary Spanish II, 24 sections of English 15: Rhetoric and Composition, 16 sections of Math 110: Techniques of Calculus I and 13 sections of Chem 12: Chemical Principles.

There is no "hard and fast rule" about how many students can be in one class section, Duncan said.

"There are some parameters that we work within," she added. "In courses like English 15, it's better to have a smaller class than a larger one."

Another area affected by the increase is the Department of Housing and Food Services.

"When you have more students, to accommodate them, there are things you have to do," said Lisa Wandel, associate director of Housing and Food Services. She added that her department would add more labor to employee schedules and increase the hours that some dining facilities are open.

Pollock Commons' The Mix is open later, Waring Commons' The West Wing is open later for dinner and Findlay Commons' Fresh Express is open later for lunch, Wandel said.

"It'll help, with the additional students," she added.

The Department of Housing and Food Services may spend more money on food this year, but an exact amount was not available.

"You can't really quantify that," Wandel said. "We don't really have a figure because we'll see how it pans out throughout the semester."

In an effort to open up some space in the residence halls, Housing offered $500 worth of free meal points to freshmen who were willing to spend their first year living at home.

These offers were mailed to all freshmen who live within a 40-mile radius of the University Park campus, said Kathy Krinks, assistant director of housing.

However, only about 17 of them found the offer appealing enough to spend their freshmen year living at home, Krinks said.