Ohio State officials are responding to the popularity of living in the residence halls by increasing available undergraduate housing.OSU is pursuing several options that could increase the residence halls` capacity by up to 600 undergraduates.Morrison Tower will be converted from a graduate hall into an undergraduate dorm as early as next year, as OSU proceeds with plans to build a new graduate housing complex on south campus. Archer House and Lincoln Tower offices will be converted back into dorms.The growing need for dorm rooms is the result of the increasing renewal rates of undergraduates living in the residence halls, said Bill Hall, assistant vice president for Student Affairs.”The undergraduate demand continues to increase,” Hall said. “In this business, all we can do is look at the trends over the last several years.”The transformation of Morrison could take place as early as next year and will mean less graduate housing for the next several years. Hall said it is important to house freshmen because they have a more difficult transition.A new graduate housing complex will be built on south campus within the next three years, in conjunction with the Campus Partners` project. Hall said the four-story complex will likely have two and three bedroom apartments, and will be located between 10th and 11th avenues just west of North High Street.The law school first had the idea for graduate housing four years ago, said Steve Sterrett, Campus Partners spokesman.”To be a premier law school, it needs a housing unit,” Hall said. Housing priority would go to law and medical students.Sterrett said the complex would provide perks that would be attractive to law and graduate students.”One of the keys is to build it with much more apartment style, rather than like a dormitory,” he said.Archer House could be reconverted within the next year to 18 months and the conversion at Lincoln Tower will gradually occur over the next three years. Dorms in Archer and Lincoln were converted into administrative offices in the 1970s. Many of those offices have recently relocated, including the housing department, which moved from Lincoln into a study lounge in Morrill Tower.Officials are considering several options for adapting the floors in Lincoln. Hall said the converted floors could be made into suites or apartment-style housing, and each floor could have different housing designs.Contributing to the need for undergraduate housing is the permanent loss of about 350 spaces in the Ohio Stadium dorms as a result of the stadium renovation.The Stadium Scholarship dorm will move to Mack Hall, currently an all-female dorm on south campus. Hall said the stadium renovation and decreasing interest among women for living in an all-female dorm made Mack Hall an ideal choice.As many as 500 returning students were notified several months ago that OSU would not have a place to house them this year. Up to 200 more students can expect to live in study lounges, at least for a short while, when they arrive for autumn quarter next month.Placing students in study lounges is only a short-term solution and has been done for many years in order to keep the residence halls at full capacity.Hall said it is necessary to temporarily house students in study lounges because typically 150 to 200 students did not cancel their contract. Once those students are identified, study lounge inhabitants can then move into more traditional dorm rooms.”Some years we have them out in a few weeks and sometimes they`re there all quarter,” Hall said. He said residents often request to remain in the lounges for the duration of the quarter either because they like their roommates or don`t want the hassle of moving mid-quarter.OSU remains committed to housing the incoming freshmen and returning students who turned in their contracts and deposits on time, Hall said.”If you signed a contract and paid your deposit on time, we have a space for you,” Hall said. “We`re not turning down people with signed contracts.”OSU advised students who did comply and transfer students to seek off-campus housing this fall. It marked the first time in 13 years that OSU had to turn students away from residence halls.