The University of Michigan could provide on-campus housing for 10,000 undergraduate students this year, which would be an increase of approximately 400.

Final figures won't be available for a few weeks, but University Housing spokesman Peter Logan said the university is taking steps to make room for the largest incoming class in school history.

Some lounges in residence halls are being converted to rooms, and apartments on North Campus usually reserved for graduate students will go to undergraduates this year, he said.

The university is projecting an incoming class of 6,350 freshmen, an increase of 300 over last year and the largest group of first-year students ever. And while the new North Quad academic/residential complex will add 450 beds, the renovation of Couzens Hall is removing 550 from use this year.

"We will be at full occupancy this fall," Logan said.

He said the freshman-occupied apartments on North Campus will have the same programmatic and staff levels as regular residence halls, and that the idea of living in an apartment instead of a dorm "has been met with enthusiasm" by many students.

Logan added that the new off-campus high-rise student apartment buildings haven't impacted on-campus housing, saying that the university has seen a steady rate of sophomores returning to live on campus.

"They have not yet affected our occupancy on campus at all," he said.

Dan Meisler is a freelance reporter and a writer/editor at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.

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