More than 700 students who thought they might be able to move out of supplemental housing by the start of this semester may have to wait a bit longer.

While resident assistants no longer have freshman roommates, 744 students remain in supplemental housing, an increase from previous spring semesters.

Housing officials said last week that it is unclear just when students in supplemental will be offered regular rooms.

The reason why many students were placed in supplemental housing last fall is because of this year's freshman class, the largest in Penn State history, Lynn Dubois, associate housing director, said.

Last fall, there were 1,299 students in supplemental housing, including 141 students living with RAs and 306 students living in Runkle Hall. Last fall marked the largest number of students in supplemental housing in recent years.

In the 2006 spring semester, 521 students remained in supplemental housing, down from the 846 students in the fall of 2005. In spring 2005, the decrease was even greater, with 205 students of the 786 students remaining in supplemental housing.

Some students, however, say they don't mind living in the supplemental rooms.

Julie Gonsman (freshman-music), Megan Lynch (freshman-music) and Elizabeth Smith (freshman-animal science) live on the third floor of Shulze Hall in Pollock, with three other women and two goldfish, but none of them consider moving into a regular room an option because they get along so well.

"I don't want to risk going into a room where I don't get along with my roommate," Lynch said.

The number of students who will get moved from supplemental into regular housing depends on the number of cancellations and the number of students who do not show up for the spring semester.

"It varies because we cannot project how many students we have that may cancel during spring, and then it also depends on the students that are in supplementals and whether they are interested in leaving their resident hall or resident hall area," Dubois said.

Kathy Krinks, assistant director of housing at Penn State, said there still may be more students moved out of supplemental housing in the weeks to come.

"On the first day of class, if anyone did not come back, we will identify those spaces and get some more people moved out," Krinks said.

Next year, admissions will be looking closely at the number of students that were accepted and admitted into Penn State.

"We're planning right now on how many spaces we would be saving for first-year students, and we're working very closely with admissions and hopefully the projections match with the number of contracts that we're offering next fall," Dubois said.

For now, Gonsman, Lynch and Smith are happy to remain where they are even though their closets are rolling garment racks.

"If two of us got to move out together, then I'd consider," Gonsman said. "I'd rather be with five people that I get along with than with one person I don't," she added.

And besides, having a full house can always have its fun moments.

"It's like a giant sleepover," Lynch said.