Aug. 6--To many college students, maid service, a private bathroom and swimming pool access would sound like a pretty sweet deal compared with the average dorm room. 

But some parents of USC freshmen aren't smiling. 

That's because a shortage of dormitory space at USC's Columbia campus means about 300 freshmen will be paying more than they expected to call off-campus hotel rooms home. 

Students staying at the Adam's Mark, Clarion Town House and Holiday Inn will pay $2,174 for housing for the fall semester. 

That's the same price students staying at USC's most expensive on-campus dorm, the new East Quad on Blossom Street, will pay. 

But it's significantly more pricey than other USC housing, which starts at $1,141 for the Towers off Blossom Street. 

Some parents said they didn't expect the cost of the off-campus hotel rooms, which are farther from campus, to be as much as regular dorms. 

Most students and parents learned of their off-campus lodging and the cost last week, barely three weeks before classes begin. 

"It goes beyond regret," said Allen Jackson, a Charleston doctor whose son is assigned to live at the Clarion Town House on Gervais Street. 

Jackson said he believed his son would be living in one of the on-campus dorms they visited during orientation. 

"I was just floored," he said. "This will completely ruin the college atmosphere for my son." 

USC officials say the hotel rooms are better than most campus lodging, but they're allowing students unhappy with the arrangement to break their housing contract and live elsewhere off campus. 

That's not normally allowed for freshmen. 

University officials say they made no promises to parents and students about the cost of hotel rooms. But some parents say they weren't told the cost of the hotel rooms would be nearly $1,000 more than campus housing. 

An unanticipated record number of entering freshmen this fall has caused the housing crunch. 

Last year, only about 90 students stayed at the Holiday Inn for a semester because of campus room shortage. 

In June, USC officials said they would try to avoid putting freshmen in the hotels, but that changed. 

Jackson said his son Chris, a Palmetto Fellows scholarship recipient, is unfamiliar with Columbia, and he's worried about his son's safety. 

"They said during orientation that safety was the No.1 issue for the campus, but he won't be on campus," Jackson said. 

Gene Luna, director of USC housing, said while a few parents have expressed concern about the hotels, the rooms are as good, if not better, than USC dorm rooms, and most students probably won't mind the accommodations. 

"This is top-end housing," he said. "In fact, we expect some students may not want to leave." 

Luna said students at the hotels, about 100 in each of the three, will have four resident advisers to help them adjust to university life. 

Officials at the three hotels say they will provide security for the students, and USC campus police will randomly patrol the areas. But at the Clarion Town House, security guards will be on duty only from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

Shuttles will run from the hotels to campus about every 20 minutes. 

The hotel farthest from campus, the Adam's Mark on Main and Hampton streets, is about seven blocks from the campus center. 

Luna said the housing fee for hotel rooms was necessary to cover the cost of the contracts with the hotels. And because the hotel rooms have private bathrooms, they are comparable to the East Quad rooms and worth the price. 

Dennis Pruitt, vice president of student affairs, said while students assigned to hotels are being allowed to break their contracts, he hopes they don't. 

"We feel we're creating an environment of camaraderie that will work well for them," he said. "We also want to ensure if they're not satisfied with some aspect, we'll find a way to address it." 

Bill Ellen, general manager of the Clarion Town House, said he's not worried about rambunctious students bothering guests -- they'll be on different floors than the regular visitors. 

"I think (USC) laid the groundwork for it to run pretty smoothly, and we really don't anticipate any problems," he said. 

Students assigned to live in hotels will stay no longer than a semester, when students who drop out or are graduated open up on-campus housing. Some might be able to move as early as September, Luna said. 

Even so, parents like Jackson are soured by the arrangement. 

"I didn't know it was even a possibility that he'd be living off-campus … had I known this, we would have looked at Clemson a lot harder," he said. 

Ironically, the Adam's Mark, Clarion Town House and Holiday Inn are part of a group fighting USC's plan to build a hotel of its own, charging it would be unfair competition. 

James Gibson, general manager of the Adam's Mark, said the hotel was happy to help out USC with its housing problem and gave the school a bargain rate. 

"We went into negotiating student housing without full knowledge of their plans to build a hotel," he said. "Had we known, it might have made a difference, particularly on the issue of discount rates." 

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