Princeton houses students in trailers

Princeton University -- known for its academic reputation, Nobel laureates, majestic Gothic buildings and popular trailer park. Trailer park? While not a traditional fixture on campus, a number of students are calling it home. Because more freshmen than expected enrolled this year, Princeton was short of dormitory space. So the university rented 10 trailer homes from the After Disaster Housing Corporation. Students currently occupy nine of the units, which house four people each. Divided into five residential colleges, Princeton students must live on campus during their freshman and sophomore years. Princeton erected the trailers in a field next to Butler and Wilson Colleges -- conveniently hidden at the edge of campus -- and asked sophomores to occupy the rooms. Worried that sophomores would not voluntarily occupy the trailers, Princeton sent the students letters over the summer describing the predicament. The university referred to the trailers as "modular housing units," and offered the students a $1,000 deduction from its $6,116 board fee if they agreed to move there. The trailers will only stand for this year. And luckily for Princeton's landscape, the trailers will not taint the pristine campus too much. But in many ways the trailer homes have proven a more attractive option to the students -- even without the financial incentive. Equipped with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, air conditioning and lots of space, the trailers offer more amenities than many dorms. Students living in Butler College -- affectionately called "the Butt"-- have small doubles and no private bathrooms. Trailer residents approach their living arrangements with a sense of humor. "We're a little worried about fires, but we figure that we could just throw a chair into a wall if we have to get out," sophomore Liz Moller said. The New York Times contributed to this story.

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