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Students on the residential standby list are in limbo because of their uncertain housing status.Of the 28,000 students attending the University, roughly 5,000 live on campus. This year, another 600 students are waiting nervously on the standby list for housing.At its peak of 1,000, the standby list was double that of last year.The list decreased dramatically when about 400 students on the standby list were placed in dorms because of cancellations. As of a week before classes, about 600 have yet to be assigned a place to live while going to school.There have been fewer cancellations than the Department of Residential Life anticipated because more out-of-state students are attending the University than before, said Mary G. Parker, executive director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.Steve Waller, director of ResLife, said the department has been dealing with a “roller coaster of numbers,” referring to the students who applied for housing each year.Renee Richard Snider, associate director of operations of ResLife, said the standby list peaked at about 500 in 2009.From 2006 to 2008, the standby list did not exist because all students who applied for housing were given slots. In 2005, 106 slots were available after all students were placed in housing.To deal with this, construction on a new building dubbed “Residential College North” is planned to be built in the next two years in the gravel parking lot beside the Business Residential College across the street from W.T. “Dub” Robinson Tennis Stadium.The new residential college will provide roughly 400 beds but will take two or more years to complete. Several buildingsm including Jackson and LeJuene Hall, have been revamped, Waller said.The LSU Board of Supervisors is considering renovating and reopening Kirby-Smith Hall on the north side of campus. The Board will consider approving the $1.7 million renovation project financed by self-generated funds and fees, to create 360 spots by August 2011, System Spokesman Charles Zewe said in a news release Saturday. The Board will consider the plan at its meeting Friday.Parker said the University probably lost a small amount of students because of the standby list. They weren’t guaranteed housing on the standby list because they looked to other universities.Some students, like international studies freshman Chastity Swinburn, finally broke down and decided to rent an apartment when the school year began looming closer.”It was very stressful,” Swinburn said. “I spent my summer not knowing what to do.”Swinburn applied on April 2, two days after the cutoff date of March 31. After a month of waiting, she had only moved from 50th on the list to 29th.  Her current roommate was stuck in the third slot before giving up.Waller said there were 4,791 spots for housing last year and 4,709 places this year. This change occurred because of the closure of East Laville for renovations. More spots would have been available had East Laville been open. The increase of requests for housing came from the greater number of applicants to the University this year. Parker said applications jumped from about 16,000 last year to more than 18,300 this year.LSU had to take 2,300 more students than last year, causing at least 500 more to apply for on-campus housing. “LSU is required to accept every student with a 22 on the ACT or the SAT equivalent and a 3.0 or higher in the core units,” Parker said.There is a great draw for living on campus, Parker said.”LSU provides better opportunities for students to grow than other regional schools,” Parker said. “Even if you don’t live on campus, you can still have the LSU experience. Those staying on campus feel like part of LSU and are more engaged with their classes.”Parker also said budget cuts in other universities contributed to the larger amount of applications this year, and there are a lot of students from Texas because of a “better financial package.” ____Contact Meredith Will at [email protected]