THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, September 25, 1995             TAG: 9509250073
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MIKE HADLEY CAMPUS, CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                       LENGTH: Medium:   61 lines

W&M FINDS DORM SPACE TO SQUEEZE IN ADDED FROSH THE SCHOOL TURNED LOUNGES AND STORAGE AREAS INTO ROOMS.

Three months before freshman Sarah Rab arrived at the College of William and Mary, her room was a storage space in a basement.

But with an increase of 116 in the freshman class this year, the school had to offer housing wherever it could be found. Since the school guarantees on-campus housing for all incoming freshmen, that meant converting lounges and storage areas to dorm rooms.

Rab, one of 1,372 freshmen, didn't mind. ``It's really nice,'' she said. ``Everything is brand new, the rooms have never been lived in, and everything is really clean.''

William and Mary isn't the only college forced to squeeze more freshmen onto campus this year.

The University of Virginia's freshman class grew by about 1,000, to a total of 2,880.

Some of U.Va.'s extra students have been placed in upper-class dorms. Others are bunking three students in rooms that were intended to house two people, spokeswoman Louise Dudley said.

``We're seeing this phenomenon of Virginians staying home to go to school,'' said Virginia Carey, William and Mary's dean of admission. ``Tuition hikes are persuading students to go to their home university.''

At William and Mary, Carey said, the admissions office had seen a decrease in the number of out-of-state applications. To compensate, the college made more offers to out-of-state applicants this year to keep its in-state/out-of-state ratio constant. But more in-state students opted to enroll than in previous years, causing the increase.

Rab's room is in the basement of Bryan Hall, one of the university's upper-class dorms. William and Mary's Office of Residence Life scrambled to build walls, bathrooms and other structures and furnish the rooms before students arrived for classes.

For many freshmen, the new furnishings make up for not being in freshman dorms.

``I love my room,'' Amanda Lember said. ``The only thing that is not good is that we miss out on the big freshman scene.''

Rab said, ``We all get along really well, especially considering that all the upperclassmen are angry with us because we have such nice rooms.''

The new basement rooms also are the only freshman rooms that have central air conditioning.

``The only complaint (the freshmen) had was not being with other freshmen in a large dorm,'' resident assistant Jill Twiss said. ``But air conditioning definitely makes up for it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

William and Mary Admissions

[Number of students applying and accepted 1994 and 1995]

For copy of graphic, see microfilm

KEYWORDS: COLLEGES UNIVERSITY VIRGINIA by CNB