UT facing on-campus housing shortage this fall

School officials said the housing problem stems from the number of freshmen attending school in Knoxville where UT requires freshmen to live on campus unless they live at home with a parent or guardian.

“We are in pretty good shape for the freshmen,” said Jim Grubb, executive director of UT Housing, “but we will not have enough space for all the upperclassmen who have applied” for housing.

UT officials said their freshmen classes have grown significantly since the state established the HOPE lottery scholarship program.

Last year, 4,422 freshmen arrived at UT in the fall and the school projects about 4,200 this year, marking the third time in the past 20 years UT has had an entering freshmen class in excess of 4,000, officials said.

Though the school lacks rooms now, UT officials said they may be able to get the roughly 200 students into UT housing this fall if they can wait a few days after school starts. Fall semester begins Aug. 24.

Some students with housing contracts may not show up, and about 45 of the affected students are over 21 and will be allowed to live in one of four apartment complexes for married students, students with families and graduate students, officials said.

“We think we can still get them in,” said UT Knoxville Chancellor Loren Crabtree, “but our first priority is freshmen, and sophomores after that. We are going to have to build housing.”

UT, which hasn’t built a new residence hall since 1969, has a maximum capacity of 7,237 spaces in its 13 residence halls. The school currently enrolls about 25,000 students.