MATT ROBLES/Arizona Daily Wildcat Pre-business freshman and resident of Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall Deborah Blum sorts through items she keeps on the empty bed once occupied by her former roommate. Due to the high number of vacancies, some students like Blum are left without a roommate.

Despite the high number of vacant residence hall rooms, students wanting to transfer halls may be in for a longer wait than expected.

Jim Van Arsdel, director of Residence Life and university housing, said all residence hall buildings are affected by vacancies and student transfers to some extent, but said students have an easier time of getting into some buildings than others.

Van Arsdel said Residence Life began 2005 with fewer students living on campus than in years past, which is the reason for vacant or only partially filled rooms. However, Van Arsdel said he was unsure of the exact number of vacant rooms because it is consistently fluctuating.

"It's a reflection on the number of freshman coming in and when they were admitted to the university," he said.

Van Arsdel said students leave the halls for various reasons throughout the semester including medical withdrawal, parents being laid off or a student's academic performance.

There are also behavioral, drug-and-alcohol related incidents, which account for some of the residence hall vacancies.

Van Arsdel said last semester, about 20 students were kicked out of the halls for alcohol or drug related incidents.

"It's a very unfortunate reality that illegal drug and alcohol activity occurs in dorm rooms," Van Arsdel said. "This policy is very well understood between the RA and the student that this kind of activity is not permitted whatsoever."

Sammi Martz, a music education sophomore who lives in Manzanita-Mohave Residence Hall, 1010 N. Park Ave., said a few people from her floor moved early last semester, which did not impact the hall too greatly.

"They moved out to newer, cooler dorms," Martz said. "But, they were only here a month before they left, so I didn't know them anyway."

Even though rooms become vacant, Van Arsdel said Residence Life cannot admit more students to live in the halls because there are waiting lists of students still dying for a spot or trying to transfer to a different hall altogether.

Van Arsdel said Residence Life is not losing a substantial amount of money because of the empty spots.

Van Arsdel said 100 empty spots would equal a $400,000 loss, but Residence Life's budget is in the "tens of millions" so the money lost is not financially crippling.

"Anytime you have a space empty, you have forgone income," Van Arsdel said.

Deborah Blum, a pre-business freshman, has no current roommate and does not expect to get one any time soon, which, she said, is just fine for her.

"Because I'm messy, I don't have to worry about cleaning up (to please) anyone but myself," Blum said.

Blum said her old roommate moved out because she became a resident assistant in another hall on campus. She said she likes having the room to herself, but it can have its disadvantages.

"I can play whatever music I want, but gets kind of lonely here," Blum said. "I have to visit other people's rooms. ... It would probably be better for me if I had a roommate, but I'm OK without one; I'll manage."

Students wishing to transfer to a different room or hall can go onto the Residence Life Web site and fill out an application to transfer. Students can then access room availability by entering their student ID and PIN on the Web site.

Apache-Santa Cruz Residence Hall has 27 males and 12 females on its waiting list, La Paz Residence Hall has 57 males and 62 females on its waiting list and stadium residence halls have six males and 10 females on their waiting lists, which is a high number, Van Arsdel said.

A complete waiting list is available by accessing the Residence Life Web site.

Van Arsdel said the high numbers mean students are putting their names down on many different halls to better their chances of getting into something different, even though the availability may not be that high.

However, Van Arsdel said the transfer process is slow with moving students around because many students want to transfer at once, leaving Residence Life in a bind as to how to accommodate everyone's needs.

"We try to offer transfers to however many vacancies we have," Van Arsdel said. "It's taking a while this year because we can only accommodate a select amount of students at a time."

Van Arsdel said he encourages students wishing to transfer to a different hall to select more than one hall so if they do not get their first choice, they can most likely get their second or third. Spring semester room transfers will begin Feb. 1.

Jennifer Mascitello, a secondary education freshman, said it wasn't hard getting her first choice of halls when she transferred from Scottsdale Community College.

"This was my first (choice) and everyone's really nice," said Mascitello, who lives in Manzanita-Mohave. "I was living at home (with my parents before) so this is much better."

"This is relatively easy if the student is flexible in getting in any other dorm than the one they're currently in," Van Arsdel said.

Van Arsdel said students should try to work out differences with their roommates and get used to the hall they are in before rushing to transfer to a different room or hall.

"When someone transfers, they run away from a problem with no attempt at a resolution to solve the problem," Van Arsdel said. "Most adults can talk about that difference, and we always encourage our residence to work it out. Some will try and some won't."

Doug Copeland, graduate hall director for Cochise Residence Hall, said the reasons for dorm vacancies in Cochise range from bad roommate experiences to students not enjoying the dorm community itself.

Copeland, a higher education master's student, said the majority of the vacant spots in Cochise are due to students leaving the UA at the end of the semester, as well as three evictions due to behavioral problems.

There are nine male spots and 15 female spots on the Cochise waiting list. Out of the 24 requests, Copeland said approximately six or seven students are expected to fill the vacancies.

Ed Gilhool, hall director for San Pedro Residence Hall, said there are dorm vacancies all across campus, but could not be specific about the number of vacant dorms inside San Pedro.

Gilhool guessed that a general interest to leave the UA at the end of the fall semester is the reason for the dorm vacancies in all dorms, including San Pedro.

However, Gilhool said there are very few vacant rooms inside San Pedro, an honors dorm, yet the waiting list is rather long for the newer dorms on Highland Avenue.

Posada San Pedro, Villa del Puente and Puebla de la Cienega Residence Halls are in high demand because they are new and in close proximity to the Student Recreation Center, the Student Union Memorial Center and class buildings, Gilhool said.

"There is a rather substantial list of folks interested in moving in and we're trying our best to make things happen," Gilhool said.