Imagine building an addition to your house. The only resources you have are a few pictures of other people’s construction projects, a brand-new foreman and the conviction that the project will be worth your while. You have no blueprints, no space and no funding.

Anyone can guess how this project will turn out. The contractor’s intentions may be good, but without a well-laid plan he’ll build nothing but trouble.

This is the predicament Saint Louis University faces with its newly announced underclassman housing policy. Last week, Vice President of Student Development Kent Porterfield, Ed.D., said that the University will require all freshmen to live on campus starting in the fall of 2009, with sophomores following suit in 2010Current students are exempt from this policy.

At the time of announcement, plans for this ground-breaking change aren’t even half-baked-they’re still thawing.

Mandatory on-campus residency has been linked with higher retention rates, higher grades and higher campus life satisfaction. Of 28 Jesuit schools in the United States, 19 already require freshmen to live on campus; 17 require both freshmen and sophomores to do so. A Marquette University administrator reported that requiring both freshmen and sophomores to stay on campus builds community, keeps students content and increases the percentage that decide not to transfer.

SLU administrators have a clear picture of a policy that works and will likely ensure high rankings and full coffers for the University.

The problem lies in the planning, or lack thereof.

Freshman housing has already been stretched to its limit. Any more, and administrators risk turning Griesedieck Complex into a 17-story sardine can.

And where will upperclassmen live? It is a possibility that some will be forced out. That brings another problem into the mix-the $2,000 housing scholarship that many students with merit-based scholarships must give up if they choose to move off campus. Will upperclassmen really settle for a quad room in an ancient dorm to keep the 2K, or will they move off campus and lose the money?

SLU’s housing woes are old news. For at least four years, rising enrollment and housing-specific scholarships have clashed with a stagnant housing supply. All the while, the University’s coping strategy has stayed the same: fit more people into fewer rooms; make new rooms in existing facilities; and rent out space as a last resort.

Administrators admit that a new student residence wouldn’t be ready until 2010, at the earliest. Well, it’s time to get on that. Draw up some blueprints. Man those phones and start asking for money. Convert one of your myriad Midtown properties into housing.

Do something, and do something quick. Don’t head to the drawing board in 2010, when the newbie Billikens are sleeping in broom closets, and say, “Maybe it’s time to get to work … “