Not your parents' dorms

University of South Carolina sophomore Tanisha Ming applied in January for a spot in one of the Columbia campus' residence halls for the 2007-08 school year.

In April, she learned she was No. 389 on the housing waiting list.

USC spokesman Russ McKinney said about 1,200 students were on the waiting list this year, up from 750 last year and 400 for the 2005-06 school year.

He said improved residence halls are enticing more students to stay on campus, and fewer rooms are available because the university tore down the worn-out Towers dormitories last year, eliminating space for 925 students.

Officials at the College of Charleston and Clemson University also said more students are choosing to live on campus because it's convenient and residence halls offer more space, privacy and technology that they did years ago. But neither school has a waiting list for campus housing for the upcoming school year, they said.

Ming, who's from James Island, learned a few weeks ago that she will have a spot in a residence hall in the fall. She was relieved, she said, even though she wasn't placed with her preferred roommates.

She thinks she'll fare better academically if she lives on campus, she said, and her mother agrees.

If Ming hadn't been moved off the waiting list by July 1, she was going to start looking for an off-campus apartment, she said. Ming checked the online waiting list often between April and June. There were weeks when she moved up only five or 10 places on the list, she said.

McKinney said only 75 students remain on the waiting list because some were assigned to residence halls and many opted instead for off-campus housing. Officials expect all 75 students to land a spot in a residence hall, he said.

About 27,000 students attend USC's Columbia campus, he said. University residence halls have space for 6,210 of them.

There is also space for 665 fraternity and sorority members in the university's Greek Village, he said.

The university plans to build a residence hall for students in the honors college. The building will house 650 students and is expected to open in 2009. McKinney said there are no immediate plans to build another residence hall open to all students.

Many private off-campus apartments offer housing exclusively for students and provide transportation to the campus, he said. "If they weren't there, we'd be facing a huge dilemma."

As part of its master plan, he said, the university is considering building another residence hall.

The College of Charleston will have space on campus for 3,393 students in the 2007-08 school year — 553 more than last year — after two new residence halls open in August, said Tavia Sessoms, director of housing administrative services. Last year at this time, 328 students were on a waiting list, she said.

She expects to have a waiting list for the 2008-09 school year. College officials weren't certain until April that the new residence halls would be completed in time for the coming school year, she said. That uncertainty likely prompted many students to find off-campus housing instead of applying for a spot in the new facilities, she said.

But improved residence halls are luring older students back to campus, she said. Many juniors and seniors who lived off-campus last year are moving into one of the new facilities, she said.

At Clemson, almost all students who want to live on campus and meet application deadlines can land a spot, said Greg Padgett, interim director of housing. They often, however, don't get their first choice of residence halls.

About 13,000 undergraduates are enrolled at Clemson, which has about 6,200 beds available in its residence halls, Padgett said.

Clemson added about 700 beds three years ago. Now, it's focusing on improving the quality of housing. That means fewer students sharing bathrooms, more technology and more private rooms.

Students want more amenities, and the university is trying to accommodate them, he said. "Across the nation, that's what's happening."

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.