Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Peter T. Ellison sets the goal even higher for his students. He hopes to reach somewhere around 65 percent.

"One would like to say we have housing for everyone who wants it," he says.

But the University will not necessarily be able to offer this housing near to campus, an issue that Ellison says he views as problematic.

In a December Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting, Ellison said that currently "90 percent of graduate students live within one zip code" of the Yard and stressed the importance of maintaining a residential campus.

"It will be disastrous if graduate students are commuting from long distances," he says.

By being close, graduate students' involvement with the academic community is unrestricted-laboratories can be used at all hours and teaching fellows can meet students in the evening.

However, the current difficulty of finding nearby housing has made many administrators change their attitudes toward the acceptable length of commutes.