URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Students return to campus at the University of Illinois in just a few weeks, and U of I Housing is on the clock to figure out living situations for students.

The root of the issue is a large incoming freshman class mixed with second-year students returning to live on campus. The university wouldn’t reveal the size of the incoming class but has said it’s larger than anticipated.

“They weren’t expecting so many people to accept and be a part of this university,” first-year student Avery Flores said.

In an earlier interview, Associate Director of Communications Chris Axtman-Barker explained the challenges they’ve faced with dorm selection this summer.

“We ended up with a substantial number of people, unfortunately, logging in for their time slot with no spaces to choose from, and we very much apologize for that,” he said.

On campus, incoming freshmen like Seth Garcia have heard this as well.

“We have friends that still don’t have housing,” he said. “So, I’m kind of worried what’s going to happen for them and what their experience is going to be in college.”

One of many ideas offered is incentives to second-year students willing to leave the dorms. This includes an incentive of $2,000 and 100 meal tickets.

In a statement to WCIA 3, a university spokesperson said:

“University housing will continue to provide the same transformative student-supporting experience we currently provide. We are making this change to support the critical first-year live-on experience by getting the space we need.”

Although plans are in place, curiosity among students still remains.

“Feels weird. Like, I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, like what happened with the admissions,” Garcia said.

The university has also made it clear first-year students are guaranteed student housing by the student code. From here, the campus will continue to explore all options for maximizing space.

Other efforts by university housing to free up space include changing occupancy and furniture in some rooms to accommodate more students, and temporarily increasing the occupancy of staff rooms.