The University of Montana has already opened their residence halls to incoming students.

Associate Director for Residence Life Melissa Neidigh said international students arrived last week, and now incoming freshmen are being housed in the residence halls. Please note, they're not 'dorms', they're properly called residence halls.

"We have nine different residence halls on campus, and the capacity for those is about 2,200," Neidigh said. "We have singles, double and some pods and we're expecting around 2,400 students by the time classes begin next week. To handle the overflow, we'll be using some study lounges as interim housing in some of our buildings. Then, as spaces open up, we'll move the students into available residence halls."

Neidigh said all incoming freshmen are required to live in the residence halls.

"The majority of our residents are freshmen, but we do have some sophomores, upper classmen and even graduate students in the residence halls, as well," she said. "We don't have co-ed facilities, but some of our residence halls do alternate floors with male and female students. Turner Hall is all women, Elrod is all male. In Miller and Panzer we have some suites and pods and those are all same-gendered rooms, so there is no co-ed housing on campus."

Neidigh laid out the cost of on-campus room and board.

"The standard double room is about $1,747 a semester, with the all-campus meal plan at $2,255, for a grand total of $4,112 per semester," she said. "I know that sounds like a lot, but keep in mind, that's the entire cost, with no utilities added. There's wireless internet and internet ports, you can have network internet, and laundry machines are free to use as well."

As far as security goes, Neidigh said common sense rules apply.

"Some of our buildings are locked 24/7, and some are locked after 8 o'clock at night," she said. "If a student feels insecure about walking alone on campus at night, she can call the security office and someone will come with a golf cart and give her a ride. On the weekends a campus police officer can come over and give them a ride in their car."

Associate Director for Residence Life Melissa Neidigh

More From 94.9 KYSS FM