Ryan Smyth, 18, found out before his first year at the University of Maine that he and his friend would have a third person living with them in an Oxford Hall room that was only meant for two.
The student in mechanical engineering said, “We were kind of shocked.”
The roommates have made it work by putting together bunk beds and other items in creative ways. But new students at Maine’s universities and community colleges and the ongoing housing problem have caused students to fill up all the on-campus housing.
For cheaper choices, schools have turned rooms into classrooms, rented hotel space, and worked with landlords.
You might think that building more dorms is the answer. Administrators say it’s not that easy, though. More people wanting to join and more rooms being needed could be a one-time thing or the start of a trend.
In the next few years, fewer people in the region are likely to go to college. That might not happen because of how expensive homes are in Bangor and Portland.
This year, UMaine had 200 more students than the last couple of years, but that doesn’t mean, “Let’s go do a groundbreaking and build a $35 million dorm.” That’s not what Ryan Low, the budget chief for the University of Maine system, said.
It cost $400,000 for UMaine to get a study of its housing stock. They will be out next month. The study will look at the Orono dorms, which are mostly 64 years old, and how to best deal with living after COVID.
Kelly Sparks, UMaine’s chief business officer and housing director, thinks that a lot of buildings will need to be fixed up or rebuilt. That also has college consequences.
It might make sense to look at what’s there before building something new, but building prices are going to keep going up. Students will either have to settle for what they have now or pay more for new ones.
“The question is: Can we come up with a price for them that they can afford?” Sparks said.
There are also not many housing choices at community colleges. In 2022, a program pushed by Gov. Janet Mills made sure that all Maine high school graduates could go to community college for free.
This led to a 12 percent rise in participation. Because of the lack of housing, campuses in South Portland, Wells, and other places built new buildings or rented hotel rooms.
But students don’t usually live on campus at these two-year schools, where the average age is 24, and many never even think about it, said Noel Gallagher, a spokesperson for the system.
All of the students must have a place to live at four-year schools like UMaine that require first-year residents. The college at Orono is also in a tough spot.
In preparation for this school year, the college turned almost 200 doubles into singles to make up for two years of lower occupancy and give upperclassmen more living room.
Then interest really jumped. Right now, 137 students like Smyth are living in triples, quads, or lounges until they can find a better place to live.
“At this point, we’ve been able to house all of our first-years on campus,” Sparks said. “I grant you that they aren’t always in the best situation, but they are on campus.”
For many years, moving off campus after their first or second year has been an important part of life at UMaine and other schools.
But because of the high rents in the area, more of them, along with graduate students, are asking to live on campus. Thirty students are staying in a hotel on campus or in flats off campus that are rented to upperclassmen at the UMaine rate.
Some students, like Smyth and his 19-year-old friend Matthew Child, have done well with the tight schedule. Child lives with three other students in a room that was once a student lounge in Oxford Hall. Each of them has a lot of room and is alone.
For some, like Avery Donschikowski, it’s enough to make them want to move. Donschikowski, who is 18, was put in a triple in Oxford Hall a few weeks before school started, just like Smyth.
She doesn’t like her roommate and wants to leave, but UMaine is too busy for her.
“I’m so unhappy there that I only go there at night and when I wake up, unless I can find another place to sleep,” she said.