FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas officials are scrambling to find room this fall for a record number of freshmen and a growing number of upperclassmen who want to remain in campus housing.
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 number is about the same as last year, said Randy Alexander, executive director of UA Housing and Student Affairs.
“At this point, we’ve gotten even more students than anticipated,” Alexander said. “It’s a housing crunch because we couldn’t accommodate everybody in our current system.”
The freshmen influx comes at a time when hundreds more upperclassmen decided to remain on campus. Upperclassmen have priority for housing and take up rooms that could have gone to first-year students, 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, will bring more freshmen than usual to universities statewide.
At Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, for example, residence-hall numbers are up and more students registered for orientation than the university had in the entire freshman class last year, said a spokesman for President Charles Welch.
Welch said it’s too early to predict fall-semester enrollment at his campus.
But, he said, everything points to larger-than-usual increases: freshman admissions up nearly 30 percent, transfer applications up about 42 percent, total applications up about 23 percent.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff projects 1,100 new freshmen - a 12.6 percent increase - when students report for classes next month, said Margaret W. Taylor, director of Planning and Institutional Research.Overall projected enrollment: 3,985, a 5 percent increase.
In 2009, UAPB fall-semester enrollment increased from 3,525 to 3,792 students, most living on campus. The university rented hotel rooms for 100 students at the start of the semester.
At UA-Fayetteville, there wasn’t time to build a dormitory before the 2010 fall semester, Alexander said, so university officials decided to lease about 20 apartments from Crowne at Razorback on West Crowne Drive for upperclassmen.
No freshmen will behoused 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’sstudents 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 hiring a graduate student to oversee the apartments like a dormitory, but apartment costs are comparable to dorms on campus, he said.
A two-bedroom apartment housing 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-priced than a private room on campus, Alexander said.
Leasing apartments isn’t the only action UA is taking to increase its housing.
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 arrive at UA before classes begin in August. 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.”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/23/2010