Student housing crunch at several colleges

As the start of fall semester approaches, some universities say housing is full or nearing capacity and exceeding expectations. One factor that has the potential to drive growth in residence hall living at all campuses: the economy and high fuel prices. The University of Southern Mississippi will keep open a residence hall it had planned to close. And Mississippi State University has taken rooms once reserved for overnight renters and filled them with students.
To read The Jackson Clarion-Ledger article, click here.

RELATED: As many as 50 students at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga are expected to begin their fall semester in hotel rooms because the school overbooked residence halls. The university, which has 2,801 beds on campus, overbooked the rooms in anticipation that many students who signed up for on-campus housing would back out before school began. To read The Nashville Tennesseean article, click here. ALSO: West Virginia University has no more residence hall rooms available. Officials say 5,780 students are scheduled to start moving into student housing on the Morgantown campus, and that's all WVU can accommodate. To read The Charleston Daily Mail article, click here. AND: The University of Colorado has reserved enough rooms for 40 students at a hotel near the campus to help cushion the housing crunch caused by a record-size freshman class. To read The Rocky Mountain News article, click here.

AND: Inundated with requests for residence hall rooms, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has told about 200 students that they should not expect college housing this fall. The school has referred them to a database of local apartments and potential roommates.
To read The Boston Globe article, click here.