It’s time for one of the most stressful moments of the year: the housing selection process. As some students are wondering where they should live for the next academic year, many upperclassmen are wondering whether they can live on campus.

As we all know, University Housing is currently overcrowded. According to NC State, there’s space for around 9,200 students to live on campus. This is a problem since there are currently around 23,000 undergraduates. To make matters worse, since fall 2017, NC State has forced all freshmen to live on campus, contributing to housing becoming overcrowded.

While there are plenty of places for upperclassmen to live off campus, some students prefer the convenience of living at NC State. But with such limited space, it’s possible that some students who want to will not be able to stay on campus.

A perfect solution to help solve the overcrowding issue is to allow incoming first-year students to live off campus. While living on campus does help new students adjust to college life, it presents a number of other issues for students’ livelihoods.

Foremost, freshman should be given the option to live off campus because there are too many incoming students. Every year, NC State keeps admitting more students than the previous year. For example, in the fall of 2016, 4,237 new students were admitted to NC State. In the fall of 2018, 4,835 new students were admitted.

It’s a serious problem when freshmen are starting to take over half of the available housing space, despite making up less than one-fourth of the total population. Since underclassmen are given priority during the housing selection process, it is difficult for others to apply for housing in the upcoming academic year. By allowing freshmen to live off campus, upperclassmen are given more opportunities to apply for housing.

Another reason why freshmen should have the option to live off campus is that University Housing gives priority to students with fewer credit hours. This just compounds the issue, since it means seniors have little chance of returning to campus unless they have a position that guarantees housing or are part of one of the Living and Learning Villages, which sign up for housing first. By allowing freshmen to live off campus, NC State wouldn’t have to reserve so many rooms for incoming students, allowing upperclassmen more opportunities to apply for housing.

Finally, freshman should be given the opportunity to live off campus so upperclassmen have more convenient access to academic resources. Susan Grant, the director of University Housing, said that living on campus has been associated with a higher GPA due to easier access to academic resources like tutoring. Although it is important for freshmen to have access to these resources, upperclassmen arguably need them more.

After all, upperclassmen are more likely to take more intensive courses and need help applying for jobs or internships. While it is important to help freshmen adapt to college life, it is critical for upperclassmen to have easy access to resources that will help them graduate and receive a job.

NC State should not require freshmen to live on campus. This requirement makes University Housing overcrowded, making it difficult for upperclassmen to reserve a room for the upcoming academic year.

NC State has somewhat addressed the overcrowding issue by allowing students who live in a 15-mile radius to live off campus. However, this solution has not solved the overcrowding issue, since only 116 incoming students were exempted from living off campus this academic year. NC State needs to do more to help all of its students succeed, not just freshmen.