Large freshman class stresses VCU’s resources
Although total enrollment in VCU is down to about 31,600 from last years 32,303, Halloran said the loss is not in the freshman class or in transfer students.
Freshmen who filed for housing by the deadline all received housing, according to Reuban Rodriguez, but some RAs now have roommates. Photo by Amber-Lynn Taber.
Mason Brown
Staff Writer
Freshman 15?
Try freshman 3,800.
The surge of incoming freshmen at VCU has led to an overflowing number of residents in freshman resident halls on the Monroe Park campus.
Resident assistants, or RAs, have been required to share rooms with residents in two of the freshman resident halls on campus, Brandt Hall and Gladding Resident Center Phase 2. The RA room-sharing was a step in a process to create space for incoming residents. Other steps have been taken to accommodate the surge of around 150 students, like moving freshmen in to upperclassmen housing such as Broad and Belvidere and promoting the commuter method for Richmond area residents.
According to Residential Life and Housing’s associate director for administrative services, Jane E. Firer, there are 2,766 freshmen in university housing. VCU has a total housing capacity of 4,750.
Firer said there were about 200 more freshmen that sought housing this year.
“There are X many students that apply, (we) offer number of admissions to Y number of students and then Z number of students say ‘I want to come to VCU,’” said Reuban Rodriguez, associate vice provost and dean of student affairs. “It’s not an exact science but traditionally has worked for us.”
Inadequate housing is not necessarily the problem for VCU. This year, the school had an increased rate of students who accepted admission into the university.
This rise may have been attributed to VCU success in the Final Four this past year, according to Rodriguez.
“We traditionally would not see the effects of such an event in admissions until the year following because of application cycles,” Rodriguez said. “It is possible this may have pushed a small number of students to come to VCU.”
Estimates presented at the September Board of Visitors meeting said that VCU admitted about 65.6 percent of applicants. About 40 percent of the accepted students chose to attend VCU, only about 1 percent more than last year.
As of now, any reports of enrollment rates are estimates until the school finalizes their counts in October.
“Based on what I’ve seen for the yield rate of this year’s class, (the yield rate) has gone up about a percentage point,” said VCU director of undergraduate admissions Sybil Halloran. “(It) doesn’t sound like a lot, but 1 percent of 9,000-something students is a lot.”
The approximately 150 students that were unexpected also led to the addition of sections to freshman courses such as Focused Inquiry and some introductory classes.
“We’re looking to provide some of the RAs a little compensation,” Rodriguez said with regards to the RA room sharing. “We are trying to move the RAs into their own rooms as space opens up, and we have already begun doing so.”
Although total enrollment in VCU is down to about 31,600 from last years 32,303, Halloran said the loss is not in the freshman class or in transfer students (the office of undergraduate admissions only tracks undergraduates and undergraduate transfers, not graduate or other special students).
“We’re not interested in being the largest university in Virginia,” Rodriguez said. “We want to continue to impress the quality of our education efforts rather than our size.”
