"We want to make sure students have a good experience on campus and that that wasn't part of the decrease," she said. "We will go from that point on to try to determine why students who were offered contracts didn't accept them."
Students reneging on their contract denials can be put on a waiting list at www.eliving.psu.edu. Some of these students will probably get supplemental housing, Dubois said.
In total, 700 students will live in supplemental next year and receive a discount, paying $1,425 versus $1,910 for a regular double room. Dubois said that eventually some of these students could receive an offer to move to double rooms.
The estimated current capacity for double and triple rooms on campus is 12,780 students, Dubois said.
For Geoff Guarino (freshman-life science), even the discount wasn't enticing, as he rejected his supplemental contract.
Instead, Guarino opted to live in College Park on Blue Course Drive after having posted his name on a housing board, www.lionhelp.com.
"I could never live in that situation," he said. "I think my distance from campus is an inconvenience, but if I had the choice of living with eight other people or choosing a
place that is far away and having my own room, I'm choosing the place that is far away."
Currently, few available places exist close to campus.
Kris Holzwarth, property manager for Associated Realty Property Management (ARPM), said that she knows of 30 apartments available in the downtown area as of yesterday morning and some one-bedroom apartments in Crestmont, an apartment complex nine blocks from campus.
Ambryn Alam (freshman-political science) said she had no choice but to accept a supplemental contract for the second year in a row after attending the Penn State Housing Fair last weekend.
"I didn't want it, but I took it," she said. "Pretty much all apartments were taken by the time we started looking. Everything that wasn't taken wasn't close to campus, which was important to me."
A.W. & Sons' Web site says that their venues -- Alexander Court, Beaver Hill, Cedarbrook, The Diplomat and Garner Court -- are fully rented for next year.
Holzwarth said that after seeing 60 leases signed last week, many students are in a crunch for time, but that ARPM prefers to not let leases be signed in a panic.
"We do insist that they set up an appointment and look at the actual apartment they are signing a lease for so that they know what they are signing for," she said.
Dayna Roberts (freshman-psychology) said she hasn't seen her apartment yet, but she is happy she denied her regular housing contract for a room at The Graduate with roommates she found through an advertisement.
Others say they recognize the value of an on-campus housing contract, pointing out the issue of many being left behind in the search for a place to live.
"There is a problem," Alam said. "The people who wanted contracts didn't get them. And the ones who did get them got bad deals."
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