With enrollment on the upswing this year, University Housing and Food Service is having to adjust to the increased demand.

Chico State offers both on- and off-campus housing to its students.

But because the number of beds are limited, the amount of new students enrolling each year is a determining factor for people that wish to live in University Housing.

This semester, about 17,000 students are enrolled at Chico State, said Sarah Langford, public affairs coordinator.

In the fall semester, there were about 16,000 students.

“We felt prepared for the jump,” Langford said. “We want to serve as many students as we possibly can.”

The availability of housing through the university is important to students who may have trouble figuring out a living situation on their own, said Christian Short, first-year business administration major.

“If I wouldn’t have got a place through the school, I don’t know where I would be living,” Short said.

Not only did student enrollment increase from last year, so did the waitlist of students seeking housing through the university.

Last school year, the waitlist for University Housing was 44 students. This year the waitlist jumped to 264 students, said David Stephen, director of University Housing and Food Service.

“Usually if you’re between 75 to 100 on the waitlist you might get in, depending on how many people cancel,” Stephen said. “This year there were more than 600 cancellations.”

The high amount of wait-listed students this year is due to the larger class of first-year students, Stephen said.

“About 85 percent of all first-time freshmen live in University Housing,” he said.

In reaction to the larger amount of incoming students this year, University Housing and Food Services moved the computer lab in Sutter Hall to generate more bed space. It also added about 100 extra beds overall, Stephen said.

But because the department thrives on student demand, it is more than welcoming to the increased number of students.

“Our only source of revenue comes from the students that stay in University Housing,” Stephen said. “We prefer to open at full capacity each semester.”

University Housing offers 2,150 beds at full capacity. Currently, about 95 percent of the beds are occupied, leaving only 99 beds vacant, Stephen said.

“We expect next year to be just as crowded,” he said.

Michael Arias can be reached at [email protected] or @mikey_arias on Twitter.