Towson University has called off this year's dorm room lottery after fewer upperclassmen than anticipated requested on-campus housing for the fall semester, school officials said.

The lottery system recently was introduced at Towson because school officials are expecting a burst in enrollment in the next few years from 16,000 to more than 20,000. The increase would mirror growth at colleges and universities nationwide.

Incoming freshmen and newer students receive preference in getting the campus' 3,300 dorm rooms. Because it routinely receives more requests than it has space for, officials instituted the lottery for upperclassmen only.

"We decided to defer the lottery," said Paul Parker, vice president for student life at the university. "Everybody got housing except for 150 [upperclassmen], so it's such a small number that we're going to go ahead and accommodate all of them."

Towson notified students in January that anyone interested in returning to campus housing had to file a notice of intent by the next month. Once those notices were returned, students living on campus for four or more semesters were randomly assigned a lottery number.

The students with the lowest lottery numbers received campus housing. But many upperclassmen, who accused school officials of being unfair, said they would seek off-campus housing rather than taking a chance with the lottery.

School officials said they will deal with the crunch, as they have previously, by putting three students to a room in 100 of the suites. The school also recently announced plans to break ground this summer on a five-story, 400-student residence hall on a 3.3-acre site south of the administration building.

It will be built and managed by Capstone Development Corp., a Birmingham, Ala., company that has developed or been selected to develop 34 campus housing communities across the country.

Pub Date: 3/30/99