Full House:

When two girls wandered into sophomore Greg Gier's new room in Briscoe Monday night, he was taken aback rather than flattered. \nInstead of looking for a guy, the girls were looking for a comfy couch and a TV. That's because Gier's new home happens to be a lounge, not a dorm room.\n"We'll just be chilling in the room and people keep coming in thinking it's a regular lounge," he said. "Every time I say I live in a lounge, people are like 'What?'"\nBut Gier is not alone. This year about 100 students will temporarily live in lounges in Briscoe, Forest and Teter quads, Residential Programs and Services Executive Director Pat Connor said.\nThis year is the first time since 2000 that RPS has been forced to place students in dorm lounges, but Connor said RPS officials hope to put the students in rooms as quickly as possible. \nConnor predicted that after "no-shows" have been counted, RPS will be able to assign displaced students to permanent rooms. Still, most displaced students will wait two weeks, if not more, for new assignments.\nThough Connor said RPS notified displaced students of their housing situation prior to moving in, Gier said he never received an assignment and had to call RPS several times before he was told that he would be put in "temporary housing." He then asked what that meant and was startled when he RPS told him he would be living in a lounge.\n"At first I was freaking out," he said. "I was like, 'How can they do that? Is my stuff going to be safe?' ... I was shocked and kind of upset. It deterred me from wanting to come down here a little."\nThe large incoming freshman class, coupled with the regular influx of graduate and transfer students and a new program that requires some Ivy Tech Community College students to live on campus, caused an excessive number of students to apply for housing, Connor said. Though in recent years residence halls and on-campus apartments have had occupation rates higher than 90 percent, this year everything will be filled to capacity, he said.\nStudents will live four to a lounge and take up about half the lounges in each of the three dorms, Connor said. The lounges will contain bunk beds, hanging racks, dressers and desks, though not necessarily one per person.\n"(Students) will be in lounges for a discounted rate. ... It'll actually be pretty comfortable," said Residence Halls Association President and junior Matt Jarson. "I wouldn't say all the \namenities of home, but you can't get that in a residence hall."\nWhen he moved in Sunday, Gier, a native of Munster, Ind., who transferred from IU-Northwest, enjoyed living in the lounge. He realized he had more space than he would if he lived in a dorm room. He said he also likes his new roommates, but with the four of them, the seemingly spacious quarters have grown smaller. Gier said they have their own beds, but they have to share two desks, two dressers and two coat racks.\nAnd he feels like he has to live out of a suitcase.\n"I'm still packed up because I'm waiting for them to tell me when I'm going to move out," he said. "Most of my stuff is ready to go."\nMost of the students who will live in the lounges are those who applied late for housing, like Gier, or are upperclassmen. IU policy makes housing for first-year students a priority, but some freshmen might still be affected if they applied late. \nConnor said RPS contacted students who are 21 and older who applied for housing and encouraged them seek off-campus housing. RPS officials warned those students in advance that officials would not be able to tell them whether they would be able to get a permanent assignment until after Labor Day.\nRPS also offered to buy out the contracts of students using double rooms as single rooms and move those students to a different location, Jarson said.\nJeanne Lady, assistant residence manager at Teter Quad, said Tuesday morning the students already living in lounges had not complained, and neither had the resident assistants.\n"I don't think it puts a particular strain on the RAs or students," she said. "The students seem to like having the extra space and are happy once they're used to it, even though it might not be what they expected.\nLady said she couldn't predict how students yet to move in who will be living in the lounges will react, but said the RAs are excited about the upcoming arrivals. \n"They have moved in just fine and seem to be getting used to it," she said.