Although occupancy in university housing is down by 925 students, Department of Residence officials said on-campus population should increase enough within the next few years to fill the suite-style residence hall currently being built.

Eaton Hall, which opened in August 2002, and the suites under construction, are both part of the Department of Residence’s Master Plan, which originally included three new buildings, said Greg Lee, associate director for administrative services of the Department of Residence.

The suite buildings are designed to last 25 years, Lee said, and the Department of Residence expects enrollment to increase at first and then remain steady over that time.

The second suite building will be open for the fall semester, said John Shertzer, residence life coordinator for the Department of Residence.

The building has already been filled with incoming freshmen and upperclassmen, he said. The ratio will likely be three freshmen to one upperclassmen, as it is in Eaton Hall.

Suite-style dormitories are what residence hall students want, Lee said.

“The previous product type wasn’t what matched students’ needs,” he said.

The Department of Residence is confident it will be able to fill the new suite building because it is the style incoming and returning students want, Lee said.

The suite buildings are new, have a good location and do not have the communal showers found in regular residence halls, he said.

“When the first suite building opened, the data indicated we could’ve filled three buildings with the demand,” he said.

Lee said the Department of Residence is not concerned with having enough students to fill older residence halls.

“We use creative ways to maximize the use of the system,” he said.

Some of these ways include closing Fisher-Nickell Hall, closing Barton Hall for one year for renovations and offering double rooms as singles, he said.

By closing residence halls and making additional cuts within the Department of Residence, operating costs have been kept low, Lee said.

The Department of Residence houses about 5,800 students in residence halls and 2,600 students in university apartments, Lee said.

Officials hope the number of students living in residence halls will increase next year, Shertzer said.

Despite lower enrollment, the Department of Residence is confident the new construction will help retain students within the residence halls.

“We see the new buildings as the answer to the problem, not the problem,” Shertzer said.