Some UCCS students prefer to live on campus even though they aren't required to.
/ FOX21: Adam Jukkola
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- This year's freshman class at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) is the largest to date with 1,350 students.
The larger than usual freshman population is creating growing pains, as the university has run out of dormitory space.
"Yeah, if you're off campus the freshman year, you're kinda missing out on the whole experience," Brian Gibson, UCCS sophomore student, said. "They have events that go on campus that you might not hear about."
There's no requirement for freshman to live on campus, but some students prefer it for the experience.
The university has run out of room, they only have 535 beds and have started a waiting list. The list had 90 students on it after the first week of school.
"I think about 5-10 of the waitlist didn't enroll," Brian Burnett, Vice Chancellor of Administration & Finance, said. "But we don't want to get into a situation where we work hard to recruit students to come, and then we don't have a place to hold them."
UCCS is expanding their on campus housing, adding two towers to Summit Village and space for 200 students.
The $16 million construction project is expected to start in the spring of 2012, and once this project is complete they'll be looking into another housing expansion.
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