Who said that?

To wake up in the morning to the smell of fresh roses in the air is a wonderful thing. To wake up in the morning and find out that you don't have anywhere to live, that's quite the opposite. The student's frightened expression did not belie the fact that they did not expect such an outcome. The quick fingers upon the keyboard sent an email to schedule the nearest appointment with the housing staff that they could manage around their busy Monday. They ran out of their dorm and through the ice covered ground later that day to make the appointment to discover what could have possibly gone wrong with their living arrangements for the following year. The foreboding lights were dimmed in the housing section of the commons. The student slowed and caught his breath as he pushed open the door to the busy department. He walked up to the counter so they could tell him that they were expecting him and to take a seat as they got the respective woman in housing that he had emailed. The thumbs he held in his lap played a game of tag as he waited along with three other students. He leaned over and asked the girl next to him what she was there for. "Oh, it sucks, I didn't get housing next year..." she said while pursing her lips.

Although she was attractive, his attention didn't focus for too long on the girl as he realized she had the same problem that he did. Finally a woman came out and looked at him and asked, "Jacob?"

"Yeah," he responded and with a sigh, got up out of his chair to be ushered by the woman to her office only to be told in a droll voice that, like so many others, there was nothing that could be done to get him on campus the next semester.

"Sorry..." is all that could really be said in this situation.

Q: "Did you get housing next year?"

A: "Yeah, I did, it's really nice"

Q: "Did you know that apparently there's a large number of students this year who didn't get housing?"

A: "Wow, that really sucks. I can't even imagine not having housing given to you. I mean, what are they even going to have to do now?"

Jonathan - freshman student - ~19

Q: "You're a senior, when did you stop living on campus?"

A: "Actually, this is my first year off campus. I thought I should try living on my own now because it's my last year and some freshman or someone would probably like my room more than trying to find one themselves I guess."

Peter - senior student - ~22

Q: "What would you do if you didn't get on-campus housing?"

A: "Well...probably run around in circles trying to find a place."

Anonymous - female freshman -~19

*Anonymous because she just didn't want her name posted simply

"5169 students applied for housing contracts, 3887 received them." (Anselmo, and Glossner )

Anselmo, Julia, and Joshua Glossner. "Lack of Housing Contracts Disappoint." Collegian Feb. 2011, Print.

"Freshman Acceptance & Retention

Total applicants: 40714

Total applicants who are accepted: 21017

Total of accepted students who enroll: 6540

% Undergraduates Living on Campus: 37.00" ("Princeton Review")

"Pennsylvania State University--University Park." Princeton Review (2008): n. pag. Web. 13 Feb 2011. .

"Student LivingFirst-time Room / Board Required

Dorm Capacity 13,399

Meals per Week N/A

Room Fee $3,820

Board Fee $3,930"

"Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Academics, History, Financial Aid, Alumni, Campus, Students, Faculty, Address, and Tuition." stateuniversity.com. stateuniversity.com, 2010. Web. 13 Feb 2011. .

I still have to meet and greet with some people in the department of housing to get the numbers and statistics that don't seem to be posted online anywhere. They just didn't happen to be open over the weekend so there wasn't much I could do to meet and interview someone there. However, I did find it interesting that Jonathan, the student I interviewed on a bus of all places, got his housing through the honors college and he really seemed to be living the good life as a result and I found that quite interesting. I might interview someone who's in charge of that to get some numbers from them and in a way inspect what can go right if you play your cards right in the smart game possibly. The only other thing that I might like to research is the average cost of an apartment around the area and place the numbers against housing on campus and check if people thrown off campus are getting beat up financially as well, in a sort of adding salt to the wound type approach.