Full House

As one of the larger higher-education institutions in the United States, Arizona State University needs lots of space to house students seeking to live on one of its campuses. Last month, the university reported that a record 13,000 students would be living in residence halls on one of its four campuses.

About 10,000 will live on the Tempe campus, in one of 14 residence halls or three apartment complexes. The downtown Phoenix campus will have 1,200 students living in Taylor Place, which opened two years ago. Another 1,200 students are living in residence halls and family housing on the university’s Polytechnic campus in Mesa. At Arizona State’s West Campus in northwest Phoenix, about 340 students are living in the Las Casas Residence Hall.

Arizona State reported in 2008-09 that its total enrollment on the four campuses was 67,082 students, second only to the online institution, University of Phoenix. The 2008-09 number represented a 30 percent increase for Arizona State compared with the previous year, but the 2007-08 figure included only students on the Tempe campus.

The 67,082 enrollment figure is an unduplicated student count; the university notes that many students take courses on more than one campus. The 2008-09 figures for each of the four campuses: Tempe, 52,734; Polytechnic, 9,614; West, 9,572; and downtown Phoenix, 8,431.