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An influx of freshmen to Cal State Long Beach and the general rising tide of the college-age population has heightened the demand for on-campus housing, filling the residence halls to capacity and forcing many students, who prefer to live here, to find accommodations elsewhere.
About 150 students seeking housing this semester have been referred to a local school, Brooks College, located about a quarter of a mile from CSULB on Atherton Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, Gary Little said, director of housing and residential life .
According to Brooks College Resident Manager PJ McNally, Robles Hall houses 30 CSULB students. Brooks is able to accommodate 550 students, whereas CSULB is able to house 1779.
The residence halls at both CSULB and Brooks College are filled to capacity and have waiting lists.
Little attributes part of the increase in demand to President Robert C. Maxson's freshmen recruiting efforts.
Half of the residents in CSULB's five residence halls are freshmen.
"Maxson has restored the concept of CSULB as a vital four-year university," Little said. The trend of CSULB as a transfer-commuter college is slowly fading, he said.
The president's office said that many first-time freshman want the "true-college experience." Living in residence halls is part of college life.
About five years ago the residence halls were filled to about 70 percent, officials in the president's office said. This year and last, the residence halls have been filled to capacity.
"What we're going to have to do for the future is make sure that this is a long-range trend. If it is then were are going to have to build more residence halls," Maxson said. "But it would not be wise to base that decision on one or two years of history."
Maxson said he thinks there is no question that the demand is going to increase.
In the future he said dorms may be built over the canal that runs from the College of Business Building to the dorms.
"With such a crunch on parking," Maxson said it may be a difficult feat. He also said there is no intention to build on the protected 22-acre site of Puvugna, a sacred ground for local American Indian tribes, that runs along Bellflower Boulevard.
Brooks College was originally built in 1964 to provide more housing for CSULB students, Little said. This semester a shuttle will provide transportation to and from the CSULB campus.