Imagine a glass of water overflowing under a faucet that won’t turn off. This is what is happening at Ohio State with its on-campus housing; students want to live in residence halls and there is just not enough room.

Steve Kremer, director of residence life, said it has been hard to respond to the demand of the students. Trying to expand housing with the current buildings on campus has been a difficult task.

“We are at complete capacity,” Kremer said. “We are so full, we have 130 students living in study lounges.”

Kremer said most of the students do not mind living in the lounges as long as they are on campus. Right now OSU has 8,476 students in on-campus housing. Residence hall occupancy has been going up since 1994, even though there has been no increase in freshmen enrollment, and Ohio State has had to turn students down the past few years.

“Many students just keep coming back to the dorms,” Kremer said.

Bill Hall, vice president of student affairs, said there are many reasons students like living on campus.

“Students choose dorms for the convenience of living on campus as well as the staff support and the simple fact that students do better when in the residence hall,” Hall said.

Kremer added going to college now includes the complete package, including residence hall life.

“I think we are starting to see a generation of students growing up in a household where the parents lived in the dorms, so naturally on-campus residence halls become a deciding factor for determining where to go for college,” Kremer said.

Lindsay Knowlton, a freshman living in Morrill Tower, said she is pleased with the dorm life so far.

“I am having a great time meeting new friends and it is fun to have lots of people around,” Knowlton said. “Living on campus is convenient, the meals are fine, and I feel safe.”

Kremer said OSU is working on a plan to expand residence life on campus. A new building is in the works. It would be the first residence hall since Jones Tower was completed in 1969.

The four-building complex will be located along Neil Avenue. It will be 220,850 square feet. There will be a hall fronting Neil Avenue which supplies 268 beds and 8,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Undergraduates who qualify for OSU’s scholars program will be housed in two buildings which provides 48 beds each. The residence hall off Worthington Avenue would allow 136 beds.

“Along with these new buildings, we would like to see Archer House and the first 14 floors in Lincoln Tower revert to student housing,” Kremer said.

Kremer said there is great demand for student housing because of OSU’s living learning programs. Residence halls are more attractive because of meal plans, convenience and safety, he said.

“There’s a sense of reassurance when students move into residence halls,” Kremer said. “You know who your neighbors are and that creates confidence in on-campus housing.”

There are no timetables as to when OSU will begin to create more student housing. Kremer said what is known is that OSU definitely needs to do something.