Nearly 200 freshmen and sophomores said hello to new friends and goodbye to their parents as they moved into the SFSU residence halls today.

Carrying computers, suitcases full of clothes, stereos, lava lamps, mini-refrigerators, Bob Marley posters and other personal belongings, the students are settling into their living spaces and gearing up for the first day of classes on Wednesday.

All 1,610 beds on campus are filled. The University houses 850 freshmen and sophomores in Mary Ward and Mary Park halls and 760 juniors, seniors and graduate students in the Village at Centennial Square. Students have been moving into the Village throughout the month. The other 650 freshmen and sophomores move in Sunday.

The SFSU Foundation Inc. recently bought 180 units adjacent to campus in an area of The Villas Parkmerced apartment community, to be leased to SFSU students, faculty and staff. In the past month, nine apartments have been leased to students, and in the next month about seven more units will become available as tenants who occupied the units before the Foundation purchase move out. Those tenants still in Parkmerced continue to be protected by San Francisco's rent control laws, and the units are made available to the SFSU community only as they become available.

As they begin their college careers, many freshmen will take part in a "First Year Experience" (FYE) class, a three-unit course on the basics of college success, covering everything from study skills and resources offered by campus support services to tips on choosing a major and advising.

SFSU created the course two years ago to help first-time freshmen make a smooth transition to college life and increase academic success and retention rates for freshmen.

Freshmen who have declared a major may take an additional one- or two-unit FYE course more specific to their field of study. In those courses, students learn about the "life" of their major by visiting upper-division courses, interviewing faculty members, and visiting upperclassmen who are working in an internship.