Two’s a crowd-at least for some resident assistants sharing their coveted private rooms.

An unusual number of late applicants and walk-ins this year prompted Housing and Residence Life to place the overflow of students in RA rooms, said Brian Kuster, director of Housing and Residence Life.

Kuster said there were about 50 walk-ins for campus housing this semester.

The priority deadline for housing was March 31.

Kuster is unsure why there was a dramatic increase in late arrival and walk-in applicants, he said.

Many RAs are disappointed to have roommates because private rooms are considered a perk of the job, said Derek Dunkelberger, an RA for Barnes-Campbell Hall who has a roommate.

“We don’t want the RAs to have roommates,” Kuster said. “At the same time, we don’t want to turn students away.”

Other RA perks include $1,000 off the price of a double room and pay starting at minimum wage and increasing by 10 percent each year a student returns as an RA, Dunkelberger said.

“It’s not unexpected but disappointing, I guess,” Dunkelberger said.

RAs were told the roommates were temporary, Kuster said.

But Dallas Thierauf, an RA for Pearce-Ford Tower, said he’s heard rumors of RAs getting “stuck” with roommates.

“There’s a possibility just because they overbook, which I think is ridiculous,” he said.

Thierauf, who also has a roommate, said the private room greatly influenced his decision to become an RA.

He said he had a bad roommate last semester, and was looking forward to having his own room.

Thierauf said he learned he might have a roommate at a meeting this semester.

“Of course I was like ‘aw, not me,’” Thierauf said of learning he would have a roommate.

Placing students in RA rooms seemed a better solution than putting three people in one room, Kuster said.

In the 1980s, Western had a similar late applicant issue and assigned three people to rooms that normally only had two, he said.

“We’d rather have two students in one room than triple,” Kuster said.

John Osborne, who had Kuster’s position in the 1980s, said the housing issue stemmed from the number of students returning for housing and increasing enrollment.

RAs don’t have roommates in dorms such as Northeast and Southwest halls because those rooms are designed to be private rooms, Kuster said.

RA roommates will be moved out once the tally of residents who applied for housing and didn’t show up is calculated, Kuster said.

The aim is to keep the late arrival students in the same dorms, but some halls, such as Minton Hall, didn’t have any no-shows, Kuster said.

“Something different might have to be done with them,” he said.

Reach Marianne Hale at news@chherald.com.