(U-WIRE) COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Coming from a comfortable middle-class family, Texas A&M University student Walt Sims never thought he would be homeless for a semester in college.

Sims, a senior history major who will graduate next week, spent his last night in the Texas A&M Memorial Student Center on Thursday after a semester of self-imposed residence within its walls. He slept on the couches, preferring the ones on the first floor, used the punctuality of 5:30 a.m. vacuuming routines as an alarm clock and paid nothing but $40 in rent for the entire semester, by way of his student fees.

"There are so many fees that students pay for that they don't even make use of," Sims says. "I wanted to make the most of them."

The experience provided a glimpse into a world previously unbeknownst to him — a world of homelessness in which he would be taken out of his comfort zone.

Sims' days consisted of being woken up by janitors around 5:30 a.m. and walking across campus to the Student Recreation Center to shower and change his clothes. He would then attend his classes, eat meals, have dinner in the TV room in the underground MSC and eventually retire to one of his favorite sleeping spots.

Sims had been planning the details of his adventure into the realm of homelessness since the spring. He knew he would need a locker, a meal plan and he would need to research the rules, of which he could find no stipulations regarding sleeping at the MSC.

"I tried to be careful not to let people notice me — especially staff," Sims says. "I did my best to not cause disturbances because I really didn't want to break any rules."

Sims says because there is at least one student who falls asleep in the MSC every night, he managed to remain inconspicuous. He even went so far as to make sure he fell asleep with a book every night and used his jacket as a pillow.

MSC staff, who decline to comment on the situation, say there is no rule against sleeping in the MSC.

Sims says his parents were worried about him getting sick and failing out. They offered to pay for alternate housing but Sims refused, hoping to gain an outlook on himself and on life through his experience. He says he often thought of giving up.

"Coming home was hard," Sims says. "I actually found that I've gotten so used to sleeping on those couches that I can't sleep well on an actual bed."

As his semester comes to a close and he graduates, Sims will find himself moving out of the MSC.

"The MSC was kind of my home," Sims says. "In fact, I'd been at A&M for five years and during this one semester alone, I've learned more about campus than all previous years combined."

Sims says he hopes others who wish to partake in this adventure are careful not to ruin the opportunity for others by causing disturbances.

— Sonia Moghe