An increase in accepted offers of admission and the inadequacies of LionPATH bring a larger-than-expected incoming freshman class to University Park. The university is getting creative with housing initiatives, including a “1+3” opportunity for students in which they spend their first year at a Commonwealth campus to receive financial aid and lowered tuition.

Penn State sent an email with details about the first come, first served offer:

“This year a higher than normal percentage of students who were offered admission chose to accept — a clear sign of the value that students and their parents attach to a Penn State degree,” said Rob Pangborn, Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Education, in a press release.

He then disclosed another reason an unexpectedly large number of students were offered admittance — a glitch in Old Faithful LionPATH.

“In addition to the increased interest in Penn State, LionPATH — the new comprehensive student information system that Penn State is implementing — also may have played a role in the unexpected rise. Unanticipated ripples in getting the complex system to scale and mesh with major areas impacting student life at Penn State may have inadvertently created an increase in the rounds of admissions being offered,” he said.

Students who opt in for the 1+3 plan while the offer still stands can study at Beaver, Greater Allegheny, Hazleton and Mont Alto campuses. The opportunity gives a $10,000 first-year cost reduction to Pennsylvania residents and $15,000 to out-of-state residents. Those who opt to live on campus at the Commonwealth campuses will receive a housing grant for an additional savings of $5,000.

Other accommodations the university is implementing include supplemental housing, allowing returning upperclassmen to withdraw from their on-campus housing contracts without a fee, and seeing if local students are interested (?) in commuting from their family homes.