Published 2006-01-28T00:00:00Z”/>

Greg Finley

There are 16 triple rooms in Whitney Hall. Room 511 is one of them.

Daniel Pendleton lives in Room 511 with three beds, two roommates and not much space.

This year’s class of first-year students is bigger than ever, and University Housing and Food Services is trying to fit them in. But packing one dorm room with three people isn’t too bad.

“If one’s busy, you can always hang with the other one,” Pendleton said.

Pendleton, who shared a room with his sisters back home, requested to be put in a triple room because he’s a sociable guy, he said.

Pendleton was the last to show up during move-in, so he was stuck with the top bunk. It’s a tough climb to the top at night and when he’s not climbing, the ladder sometimes gets in the way of his desk.

When roommate Drew Dito sits at his desk, people entering the room can’t see him. The guys have nicknamed his workspace “the cave.”

“Sometimes people will come in for 45 minutes and not even notice me,” Dito said.

Unlike Pendleton, Dito didn’t originally want to be in a triple; he listed three other residence halls ahead of Whitney Hall. But after living with his roommates, Dito doesn’t mind the squeeze so much.

The third roommate, Zach Doan, wrestles with another problem. He can’t sit up comfortably in his bottom bunk, but there is a plastic foam bar that prevents him from hitting his head.

The men share a dresser with six shelves and a closet that is about 3 feet wide.

Although triple rooms are nothing new to Whitney Hall, they were a recent addition to Konkow Hall. In each house, 16 people share a kitchen, two bathrooms and two industrial-sized refrigerators.

Elissa Peterson said living in Konkow was her first choice because people are friendlier.

The women haven’t had any major fights, roommate Megan Stevens said. Stevens’ roommates like the room warmer, but she has the final say because her bed is closest to the thermostat.

Roommate Shauna England said the room wouldn’t work out if her roommates weren’t all clean. Triple rooms aren’t so bad because people can always go out into the house, she said.

Each of the women has a desk underneath a loft bed. They all have laptop computers, which they said save space.

Scott McGee lives across the hall in another triple.

McGee would have preferred a double, but he said the triple is worth it because he wanted a kitchen.

But having less space is a major drawback, McGee said. He had to leave a few things back in Sacramento, including a piano keyboard, a stereo and some of his clothes.

Konkow’s triples are an experiment, said David Stephen, director of University Housing and Food Services. He isn’t sure which rooms will be triples, if any, in the coming years.

Stephen made the decision to try triple rooms so more students could benefit from Konkow Hall’s thematic living, which includes houses for honors students and those interested in engineering.

Students who live in a triple room pay about $500 less for the year than those in a double, according to the housing department’s Web site. For some, it pays to be a sardine.

Greg Finley can be reached at

<a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>