University of Arkansas at Fayetteville officials must make room this fall for a record number of freshmen and a growing number of upperclassmen who want to remain on campus.
“At this point, we’ve gotten even more students than anticipated,” said Housing and Student Affairs Executive Director Randy Alexander. “It’s a housing crunch because we couldn’t accommodate everybody in our current system.”
About 3,458 degree-seeking freshmen have enrolled at UA for the fall semester, up by about 500 from a year ago. UA expects its overall enrollment to reach more than 20,700.
University policy requires students to live on campus the first year unless they apply for a waiver, but only about 280 waivers have been granted. That numberis about the same as last year, Alexander said.
The freshmen influx comes at a time when hundreds more upperclassmen decided to remain on campus. Upperclassmen have priority for choice of housing and take up rooms that could have gone to firstyear students, UA spokesman Scott Flanagin said. The housing office didn’t have numbers Thursday for how many more upperclassmen requested oncampus housing.
“Part of the housing problem is there are a lot of students who want to stay on campus,” Flanagin said.
UA and state officials said the recession is driving upperclassmen to live on campus, and lottery-funded scholarships, offered for the first time, are bringing more freshmen to universities statewide.
UA didn’t have time to build a dormitory before the fall semester, Alexander said, so university officials decided to lease about 20 apartments from the Crowne at Razorback complex, off West Crowne Drive, for upperclassmen. The 20 apartments would houseup to 85 upperclassmen.
No freshmen will be housed off campus, Flanagin said.
Despite the housing crunch, officials plan to keep the university’s policy requiring that first-year students live on campus.
“Research shows that firstyear students are just much more successful in their college experience and their college careers when they are engaged on campus the first year,” Flanagin said. “It’s a retention tool.”
Officials still must decide whether to build new on-campus housing or make other plans for next year’s students as the population continues to grow, Alexander said. UA may decide to lease the apartments again for the next academic year because renting costs less than building a new dorm, he said.
The school has a 10-month lease for up to $28,000 per month for Crowne apartments and an option to expand should more students enroll and more apartments are needed, Alexander said. Students bear the cost, which includes staffing a graduatestudent to oversee the apartments like a dormitory, but apartment costs are comparable to dorms on campus, he said.
A two-bedroom apartment with four students costs each student about $3,500 per academic year. Those who want more privacy can get a single room for about $7,000, a little higher price than a private room on campus, Alexander said.
Leasing apartments isn’t the only thing UA is doing to increase its housing supply. Officials are also renovating and reopening three residence halls: Bud Walton Hall, Buchanan-Droke and Gladson-Ripley. Bud Walton Hall was closed for the longest without renovations, Alexander said. No plans are under way to build new dorms, Alexander said, but Pomfret Honors Quarters is scheduled for renovations.
The housing crunch isn’t stopping the university from encouraging more students to come to UA. The university is accepting freshmen and will be able to place more students, Alexander said.
“Freshmen can get a room,” Alexander said. “We will make that happen.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 07/23/2010