Purdue University has increased some dorm rooms to sleep three and four students as they prepare for the largest freshman class in school history. This is a three-bed dorm room inside Tarkington Hall on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. Staff photo by Nikos Frazier
WEST LAFAYETTE — With the largest incoming class in the past 40 years of Purdue history set to arrive this fall, the University Residences department had to make some changes to accommodate the upcoming 10,000 freshmen.
One priority necessary to expand capacities for on-campus housing was turning rooms made for two people into ones that can hold up to four.
"So a typical double room would typically have two students assigned to it," Barb Frazee, assistant vice provost for student life, said. "But this year, we'll be having about 600 (students) in 200 rooms that are doubles or triples."
The residence halls converted to triple and quadruple rooms will be Tarkington, Wiley and Owen halls. The modification of double rooms to triple rooms still allows for each resident access to a desk, dresser and storage within the 188 square feet of space in each double-turned-triple room. However, students in these rooms will have to share two closets between them.
Other rooms that have been turned into triples and quadruples – or quads – include those that were previously conference rooms. These conference rooms, which used to house one long table with surrounding chairs for group studies and meetings, will now host up to four residents.
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