Record freshman enrollment could result in housing shortage
Enrollment is up 8 percent from this time last year.
Published June 2, 2010
The class of 2014 is set to break enrollment records this fall.
As of May 24, the university has received 17,148 applications -- 14, 319 of which were accepted, Vice Provost for Enrollment Ann Korschgen said. Of those applicants accepted to MU, 6,249 students have made enrollment deposits, which secure a student's place in the freshman class.
These numbers are subject to change, MU spokesman Christian Basi said. The number of students officially enrolled in the fall will only be finalized in mid-August at the close of all enrollment deadlines. Although unofficial, current enrollment numbers for the fall semester are up 8 percent, from 5,765 enrollment deposits at the same time last year.
The increases have had an adverse effect on on-campus housing and Residential Life has been unable to shelter all the students who might have wanted to live on campus.
"We typically house between 85 to 90 percent of the incoming class and historically have been able to house all incoming freshmen students," Director of Residential Life Frankie Minor said.
Minor said with increased enrollment for the upcoming school year, there are an estimated 200 incoming freshman without beds for the fall semester. In addition, many returning students were unable to get housing contracts because of a limit imposed by Residential Life to ensure there would be ample housing for a large freshman class.
"A strategic decision was made by senior campus leadership advised by the Division of Enrollment Management," Minor said. "We wanted to house as many returning students as possible and accepted 1,900 contracts from returning students, which was the maximum number we projected we could accept and still have sufficient housing for incoming students."
Residential Life is pursuing several other options to help house the large freshman class. Minor said, in addition to adding 340 spaces at Tiger Diggs off-campus, Residential Life is offering incentives for returning students to cancel unwanted housing contracts and is researching future contract cancellations from men joining fraternities in the fall.
Much of the increase in enrollment over the past several years has been attributed to an increase in college-bound Missouri high school graduates. MU's offices for Enrollment Management and Residential Life work with projections for future student enrollment and are able to somewhat account for changes in enrollment before they occur.
"Next year, the number of high school graduates in Missouri starts to decline and continues to decline for several years," Korschgen said. "This will very probably affect our enrollment growth."
In conjunction with projections for future enrollment, the Division of Enrollment Management takes steps to increase access to in-state students and make MU the focus of many students' college goals.
Director of Access Initiatives DeAngela Burns-Wallace said it is part of MU's role as a public flagship to help increase access to college in general and MU has many initiatives working to bring students to MU's campus and programs.
These initiatives include MAC and Kauffman Scholars programs to help underrepresented minority and lower income students gain access to college through college prep and counseling as well as summer academies that bring students to campus.
"These programs are not necessarily designed to be a recruitment program, but it does make students more comfortable and focused on MU," Burns-Wallace said. "It's a relationship."