Some Stony Brook University Students Placed In Dorms Far From Campus

STONY BROOK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The school year is off to a frustrating start for some Stony Brook University students whose residence halls are nearly 15 miles away from campus.

Attempting to address a chronic shortage of on-campus beds, Stony Brook is leasing dorms at Dowling College in Shirley, CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan reported.

Many of those making the daily commute complain of a 13 1/2-mile drudgery over parkway, expressway and busy road each way in a bus.

Irked about the 30- to 45-minute ride to campus, one student's mom from Middletown, New York, said they will find another college.

"If I was a freshman ... I would like want to drop out probably," one student said.

"What is the point of dorming if you have to commute up to 45 minutes?" asked another student.

Stony Brook has more than 24,000 undergraduates and graduate students -- and 5 percent more students have chosen to live on campus compared to last year.

"We are extraordinary popular," said Stony Brook President Samuel Stanley. "We're going to admit the largest class we've ever admitted because we had so many applicants. And it's a challenge for us to find a place to house all of them."

Stony Brook has broken ground on new dorms and is adding beds to exisisting residence halls. Those moves follow months of complaints from homeowners in the college community who say they have to live amid off-campus party houses with absentee landlords.

The Town Council is convening a meeting among college officials, residents and landlords to discuss ongoing off-campus housing issues.

The university noted it also housed students at Dowling's Aviation School in 1999 while a new dorm was under construction.

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