Move-in ended a while ago for most students, but for a handful of others, the process feels like yesterday.

Alicia Browne, director of Housing Administration, said more than 100 girls started the year in temporary housing assignments, with some still in the process of moving to their permanent assignments.

“Some students had their assignments changed to a permanent one before they ever arrived on campus,” she said. “At this time, all students in temporary overflow assignments have been offered a permanent assignment. Some have completed their moves to their permanent assignment, and some are still in the process of moving.”

If every student on campus could take any housing spot, Browne said, all students would have had a spot.

“Every male had a permanent assignment long before move-in,” she said. “There was a huge demand for freshmen and what challenged us in assignments is that there was a particularly heavy demand from freshman women.”

To accommodate the high demand for female student housing, she said “perfectly fine spaces” in residence halls like Tutwiler, Burke and Parham had to be used.

“I have to take my hats off to the RAs because [they’ve] approached it in such good spirits,” Browne said. “It speaks a lot to how people can get along in a challenging situation.”

For Karie Jane Deerman, an RA in Tutwiler, that meant doubling up in a room with Camila Gonzalez, a freshman.

“Initially, I was a little frustrated, because we were all under the impression we would have a single room,” Deerman said. “[When] the email came in late July, I was a little caught off guard that we would have temporary roommates and was a little curious about how long this ‘temporary’ situation would last.”

Deerman said sharing the relatively small rooms at Tutwiler was inconvenient, but HRC held true to its promise that the situation, which lasted a few weeks, was temporary.

“Although it wasn’t an ideal situation, my roommate was very kind and understanding about the entire situation, and I was able to make a new friend because of this housing overflow,” she said.

Gonzalez, who moved into Somerville and is now moving into Riverside, said living conditions at Tutwiler ultimately caused her to leave, as opposed to any kind of rooming situation.

“I honestly think it was fine. I got along really well with [Karie],” she said. “We actually became friends.”

She said dealing with the HRC administration has been OK, and though “it hasn’t been the best experience, [the system] works.”

Browne said the doubling-up situation was naturally resolved by the presence, or rather non-presence, of no-shows – students who drop out, transfer or just otherwise never arrive on campus to claim their rooms.

“As hard as we work, there will always be no-shows,” she said.

The HRC department saw the overflow coming, Browne said, and began preparing during the early summer. She said they are always planning and data about demand helps them focus their thinking.

The emphasis, she said, is providing on-campus housing to freshman, in order to give them “their very best start.”

“The goal is absolutely to house freshmen, because we know the best start for most first-year students is to live in a residence hall,” she said. “This year, our request for exemptions dropped and we captured a higher percentage of freshmen.”

Browne said the department will keep evaluating growth, and the completion of Presidential Village II, which will add 850 spots, will help meet next year’s demand.

“We’ve definitely built a lot,” she said, noting that 4,000 bed-spaces were added since 2005 with the construction of Riverside, Lakeside and Presidential Village.

But just because students settling into bed tonight will have a permanent assignment and the construction equipment around residential areas will be leaving soon, HRC will not stop focusing on changes in demand.

“You never want to get too comfortable,” Browne said.

In addition, the HRC department makes year-to-year adjustments, such as not renewing last year’s contract with East Edge Apartments or creating an Honors Community to “bring Honors students together in a more conducive community.”

“We’re trying to be as responsive as possible to growth and what students are looking for,” she said.

While Browne dispelled the rumor that students had been sourced to off-campus housing while spots opened up on campus, she said part of the HRC department’s growth has been expanding resources designed to help students transition to off-campus options.

“That’s really to help students make sure they make good, smart decisions when they move off campus,” Browne said. “Part of our responsibility is to make sure students are informed.”

The questions driving HRC ultimately circle back to the needs of students.

“How do we meet the needs of other students in other ways?” she said. “[On-campus], what’s the best way to use our space to meet students’ needs?”