Freshman Charlie Taylor is beginning his education at the University a little differently than he expected when he was deciding what college to attend last winter.
“I came here because I wanted the big-school atmosphere,” Taylor said.

But Taylor, with more than 400 other freshmen who did not receive rooms in the University residence halls this fall, will not be living on-campus this year.
On Thursday and Friday, hundreds of freshmen who were turned away from the residence halls because of a surge in enrollment arrived at their new apartments – on the other side of the river.
University officials prepped students and parents with the new off-campus living situation during IntroDUCKtion sessions this summer; many students and parents were concerned about commuting to and from campus.
“I wish (my son) could step out his door and be on campus and be meeting his friends,” Ellen Taylor, Charlie Taylor’s mother, said. “This is really nice, but I wish he were a junior and not a freshman.”
Stadium Park Apartments complex director Michael Smith agreed that most students were mainly concerned with transportation to campus.
“Mostly students have been asking about how they are going to get to campus – the bus schedule,” said Sam Burke, a Stadium Park community assistant, which is the equivalent to a resident assistant in the University residence halls.
Smith said that although many parents raised concerns with the Stadium Park living situation last spring, he feels many of those concerns have been relieved now that their students are settled in.
At the information sessions this summer, parents and students raised a litany of concerns, including the length and safety of the commute, specifically the footpath that crosses the Willamette River and passes through a wooded area in front of Autzen Stadium.
Smith and other University officials reassured parents that students have been living in the area and using the path for years, and that the path is well-traveled during the day.
“At the information sessions there (were many concerns),” Smith said. “But once the pProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ents got out here and saw the bus stop right there … it really put them at ease.”
Students living at Stadium Park have several options when commuting to school, including an express bus to the University that runs every 30 minutes. Students can also take the foot path past Autzen Stadium either on foot or by bike.
Charlie Taylor said he is not really concerned with the commute, and he plans to bike to campus most days. “I’ve ridden my bike a couple times, but I haven’t walked and I haven’t ridden the bus yet,” he said. “It’s not really walkable, though.”
Smith is encouraging students who walk home after dark to utilize the University-funded Assault Prevention Shuttle, which runs from 6 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. on the weekends.
Charlie Taylor said he is very happy with the living situation.
“It’s a pretty nice place, and I think it’s a lot better deal than (the residence halls),” Charlie Taylor said. “I don’t really mind the distance.”
Charlie Taylor was wait-listed for the residence halls last spring because he did not apply before March 31, the priority deadline.
Initially, Taylor was not going to come to the University after being denied housing.
“We didn’t want him to come here without having housing,” Ellen Taylor said. “The school’s recommendation was to go on Craigslist and find a roommate, and I found that appalling.”
Although Ellen Taylor would still prefer her son live in a residence hall, she is comfortable with his living situation. “All in all, now that we are here living it, I think we’re ready to leave him tomorrow,” she said. “It has been a really good experience.”
The University reserved 400 rooms at Stadium Park last spring to help accommodate some of the roughly 800 students who were wait-listed for rooms in the residence halls, after a record-high freshman enrollment surge hit the University.
Students are either living in two- or four-bedroom apartments. The University matched roommates for the apartments in the same way it does for the residence halls. Students who were put on the wait-list had first option to reserve rooms in the temporary University block of Stadium Park, which the University is attempting to operate similarly to the residence halls.
Smith said the University staff at Stadium Park will meet later this week to plan out events for the student residents, which he said will be both academic and community focused.
“There are some challenges we have here that are not in the halls,” Burke said. “Getting people together will be more challenging, but not impossible.”