If you substitute the “residence hall room” for “can” and “students” for “sardines,” you get a similar situation to the one some Central Michigan University students living in residence halls are currently facing.

Joan Schmidt, associate director of Residence Life, said about 175 residence hall rooms out of 1,800 will house five students this year. Though the arrangement has frequented residence halls in the past, it’s an unknown experience for many in CMU’s present generation of on-campus residents.

“We made a decision to quit admitting any more transfers,” said Shaun Holtgreive, also Residence Life associate director. “It was more of a fourth strategy to move five freshmen into a dorm.”

Only the two-bedroom suites will host five freshman this semester — meaning 11 halls in total will be affected.

Of the 168 resident assistants on campus, 121 will also have three roommates instead of the usual two, Schmidt said.

The 175 affected rooms include only incoming freshmen, not returning students or sophomores. The residence halls usually host 94 percent of freshmen on campus, but this fall it will host 97 percent, Schmidt said.

Positive or negative?

The number of incoming freshmen this fall is expected to have increased from 3,691 to more than 3,900, setting a new record.

The last time CMU saw cases of five people living in the residence halls was 2003. Prior to that year, it was fairly common, Schmidt said.

Though Flint freshman Astarria Norris and Muskegon freshman Amber Hill will not have a fifth roommate in their room this fall, both believe the negatives outweigh the positives.

“I’d just be really stressed out,” said Hill, who lives in Beddow Hall. “No one would have any room to move and you’d just be in each others’ faces all the time.”

Norris said two of her main concerns about sharing a room with four other girls are coordinating bathroom times and roommates borrowing each others things.

Both agreed there was only one benefit to a five-person living situation in the residence halls.

“You get to meet more people at one time,” said Norris, a resident Emmons Hall. “That’s about it.”

Time management is a key part of living in a five-person residence hall, Schmidt said, in addition to less crowded ones.

She recommended students fill out and follow their roommate agreement workbook, which is used to determine appropriate times for activities like homework, music, showers and sleep times.

Residence Life is allowing freshmen to move into the newer on-campus residence halls. Such buildings include Celani, Fabiano and the new additions to the towers.

Holtgreive said Residence Life makes no profit from the extra roommate. Combined room and board costs remain the same for the fifth roommate, but are divided among the five students.

Returning students are allowed to move out of the residence halls without penalty. This way, students who remained on campus because of scholarships can move off campus.

Holtgreive said Residence Life has received several complains about the new living arrangements.

An extra bed, desk and dresser will be added to the rooms with five students. The extra roommate also reduces the number of overnight guests allowed from two to one.

“It has happened several times in the past decade,” Holtgreive said. “It’s difficult to predict that we’d be in this position.”