New student enrollment creates dorm crunch at SIU
CARBONDALE— Administrators at Southern Illinois University are preparing for a record number of new students arriving on campus when fall classes begin later this month. But that's creating a housing crunch at the Carbondale school.
WSIL-TV says new student enrollment is on pace to beat 2008's record, thanks to an anticipated 10 percent increase in new students.
But SIU spokesman Rod Sievers that means that means there are more students than beds.
The school is building new dorms, but they're years from being completed. And three of the oldest residence halls on campus were torn down.
That means the school scrambling to put more students in each dorm room.
Administrators attribute the enrollment increase with the success of a marketing campaign that's helped boost declining enrollment.