Residential Life officials consider the nearly full residence halls as a positive sign of growth, but some students don’t share their enthusiasm.

This semester, Loyola’s residence halls are at 97 percent capacity. The university has 1,481 total beds on campus in its four residence halls, and has about 40 empty beds. Craig Beebe, director of Residential Life, said he doesn’t think that filling residence halls to capacity will make students uncomfortable. That’s why there is a capacity, he said.

“People know now that Loyola’s growing, that the freshman class is the second largest in history, that the residence halls are full, and that’s just a positive message,” he said. “It’s actually difficult for a university not to have the residence halls at capacity,”

Half of the rooms in Biever Hall are tripled up this year, while only about a third were last year.

“We have 40 more students this year in Biever Hall alone,” Beebe said.

Some freshmen who live in Biever said they aren’t fans of the new sleeping system, which includes one bunk bed and one loft bed.

“I’ve fallen off the beds a few times. It’s not fun,” said Kieran Kavanagh, music industry freshman and Biever Hall resident.

However, he and his roommates chose to rearrange their room and said they have made it slightly more comfortable.

“The way they set it up in the beginning was absolutely terrible,” he said.

Adam Davis, theater arts junior and former resident of Biever Hall, said he doesn’t believe rooms should be tripled up.

“I don’t understand how people fit in a room that was designed for two people. They may say it’s built for three, but it has two closets that are built in, so having three just seems a little ridiculous,” he said.

Despite this increase, Beebe said sophomores won’t be allowed to live off campus anytime soon, even if it would mean more on-campus living space for freshmen.

“Loyola thinks it’s important that sophomores live on campus,” Beebe said. “We are committed to being a residential campus, which means that most of our students would live on, and that really starts with a freshman and sophomore residency requirement.”

Rosalind Santos, theater communication sophomore and resident of Carrollton Hall, disagreed.

“I think most schools have it right by letting sophomores live off campus,” she said.

The capacity rules for the residence halls are based on square footage and the available parking, but there are no fire codes limiting the number of students who can be housed in each room, Beebe said.

Kelsi Allenbach can be reached at [email protected]