JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Classes started Monday at East Tennessee State University, and some students are having to temporarily stay in hotels due to on-campus housing being at capacity.
About a hundred students are currently staying at hotels, according to Vice President for Student Life and Enrollment Joe Sherlin.
“We have just enrolled one of the largest classes in the history of the university following one of the largest classes in the history of the university,” Sherlin said. “So our housing is full. It’s an exciting time to be on campus, and we’re excited to get the semester started.”
It’s a problem the university faced last year, but Sherlin said the university will be working them into the on-campus housing program in the coming weeks.
“We also had students in hotels last year, and so we’re familiar with that model and we will work them in over the first few weeks to be completely full by mid-September,” Sherlin said, noting that more on-campus housing will become available in the coming weeks as some students decide to live off-campus instead.
“Some are choosing to commute and some are just making other decisions with housing,” Sherlin said. “So those spaces always open up over the first few weeks and that’s what allows us to move students from hotels back into those vacancies.”
ETSU is currently running shuttles to campus for students currently living in hotels.
The university plans to build a new residential hall on campus, but it won’t open until 2026 at the earliest.
