Freshmen overflow: How VCU is accommodating the historically large Class of 2029

Freshmen overflow: How VCU is accommodating the historically large Class of 2029

Molly Manning, News Editor

Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor

Joshua Paler, Contributing Writer

VCU welcomed more than 4,500 incoming freshmen this fall — making 2029 graduates part of the largest class in four years, and possibly the second largest ever in VCU history. While the historically large number is consistent with the university’s growth, some students are concerned about whether or not campus is spacious enough to handle it.

The growth in enrollment comes alongside a 2.5% increase in tuition and a $200 increase in fees determined in May by the board of visitors, according to VCU News. The hike, which is below the rate of inflation, was necessary to cover unavoidable costs such as state-mandated salary increases, rising utility rates and other inflation-driven expenses, VCU spokesperson Michael Porter stated.

“Even with higher enrollment, those costs outpaced tuition and state funding,” Porter stated. “The ‘net price’ for many families has actually gone down, and average student debt at graduation has dropped by 2%.”

VCU was able to meet the housing needs of all first-year students in on-campus housing this semester, Porter stated. He credited recent steps to expand capacity, including converting single rooms into doubles at the Honors College Residence Hall, adding an extra bed to most single, double, or triple dorm rooms and starting the planning process for a new residence hall on West Grace Street. 

VCU has also created “overflow space” in the lounges of Gladding Residence Center that Porter says can be used as temporary or long-term housing.

Second-year psychology student Artie Tefel lived in Rhoads Hall their first year — the oldest in-use dorm on campus after Johnson Hall closed in 2021 due to black mold — in a two-bedroom converted to fit three people. One year later, they now serve as a residential advisor in the same dorm, where that triple has been converted into a quad.

Tefel said they were nervous to arrive on campus and see the newly reworked dorms after what they called “VCU’s housing crisis.”

“I see it when I’m walking to get food or when I’m walking with my friends to other dorms,” Tefel said. “I mean, the SOVO Fair was packed, it was crazy. Most of the classes that I’ve been to have been mostly full.”

Tefel said they doubt VCU’s plan to build a new dorm on Grace Street will make a sizable dent in the demand for on-campus housing, and thinks Johnson Hall should be reopened. VCU should be more selective with how many students they admit. 

The new housing project on West Grace Street is expected to house 1,000 beds for students in semi-suite and apartment-style rooms, and will be completed sometime between now and 2026, according to the ONE VCU Master Plan.

“I just think there’s gotta be some way of balancing it, but I’m also a 19-year-old and I have no idea how to run a university,” Tefel said.

First-year enrollment is up by 6.6% between 2024 and 2025, according to VCU.

Kiersten Fultz, a second-year forensic biology graduate student, said she noticed that it is definitely more crowded now than in her past years on campus, but that it is nice to see more people. 

“I haven’t been on campus too much yet, but I have noticed that the library is already pretty full and I had to really look for an open spot already and school just started,” Fultz said. “I feel like there might need to be more third spaces where people can hang out, that’s not just the library.”

VCU associate history professor John Kneebone said faculty and students often feel the investments the university makes are not for them, but for the sake of continued expansion.

“There’s always been the complaint from faculty and students that investments have never really been in education,” Kneebone said.“They tend to be in buildings and programs, and then the faculty and students are left to make the most of it.”

Kneebone said VCU has “always been crowded for space,” partly because Virginia requires 

dorms to pay for themselves through tuition, making universities reluctant to build new housing without guaranteed occupancy. He added that enrollment growth has historically come before resources catch up.

“I see this as good news for VCU and for colleges in general — even though expansion often comes before all the resources are fully in place,” Kneebone said.