Dolinski is living with one more roommate than normal in MSU housing because not enough dorms are available for the amount of students living on campus.

Along with some peers, the freshmen were placed in transitional housing their first semester to accommodate for one of the largest incoming freshman classes in MSU history.

Ramifications of this influx have continued into spring semester. About 492 students continued living in transitional housing arrangements from an original 2,052 last fall, Residential and Hospitality Services Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Tony Frewen said. Of these, about 360 of the students made a voluntary choice to stay in transitional housing, Frewen said.

Students such as Dolinski split the cost of a two-bedroom dorm between three people, but pay the cost in full at the start of the semester. Dolinski said because of the tight quarters, MSU compensates him and his roommates each with a more than $550 check per semester to reimburse the money they spent in housing costs, and offer other perks to make up for transitional housing.

Although the situation isn’t ideal at times, Dolinski and his roommates chose to continue living together in the small space during spring semester after they grew close as friends.

“Right now we plan to stick it out,” Dolinski said. “But I don’t want transitional (housing) next year.”

The count for incoming freshman and transfer students in spring semester is estimated between 650 to 660 — mirroring last year’s enrollment numbers of about 650, Office of Admissions Director Jim Cotter said.

Cotter said although enrollment last semester marked MSU’s largest freshman class, the university wanted to continue to offer the same enrollment opportunities for those applying in the spring as in past years.

“Despite the larger freshman class, we didn’t feel it was appropriate to hinder access to the university,” Cotter said.

However, Cotter said admissions attempted to somewhat limit spring enrollment by closing the application deadline early.

Amy Franklin-Craft, Department of Residence Life associate director, said although a continuation of transitional housing is never ideal, few students sharing quarters have complained about the situation.

“It’s not something that we want to do, but there is nothing else we can do,” she said. “Very few students put up huge concerns … we often hear from their parents, but so far, so good.”

Frewen said the number of students in transitional housing varies from year to year, but regardless of what happens residential services will do their best to accommodate students’ comfort.

“The freshman class comes in and … you can’t know for sure how long it will take to settle them down,” he said. “People aren’t being stacked on top of each other in inhumane conditions.”