MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2012
We haven’t been focusing on ‘being full’; what we focus on is how we can help students be successful.”
Pete Englin
10,572 students living on campus DOR develops creative solutions to find housing for record student enrollment By Dan.MacKenzie @iowastatedaily.com Students living on campus this semester can safely say they are part of university history. This year ISU students are part of the largest enrollment ever at Iowa State. They also have more neighbors in their respective residence halls than any other semester in history. This fall there are approximately 10,572 students living on campus, and nearly half — 5,120 — are first year students. With so many people wanting to attend Iowa State, the administration has come up with some creative solutions to accommodate them all. Pete Englin, director of the Department of Residence, said: “We did not want to be in a position where we turned people away.” Instead, he said, the university has taken most of the dens that had been social space on residence hall floors and turned them into fourperson rooms. They have also taken rooms that had been larger twoperson rooms and turned them into three and four-person rooms, which they had likely been in the past. There are also more students living in Wallace and Wilson Halls than in recent semesters. Tom Hill, senior vice president for Student Affairs, said that as a public university, Iowa State has a duty to educate as many Iowans as possible, in addition to those wanting to become Iowans while they study. He said that while it can sometimes put a crunch on the system: “We hope the students understand.” Many students living in the dens say they understand and are quite happy with their situation.
Lawrence Edeen, sophomore in aerospace engineering; Kyle Castle, freshman in pre-business; and Jay Watts, sophomore in engineering, share a den on the seventh floor of Larch. Watts said he does not mind the extra roommates. “I think it’s better than a regular room: We have a lot more space.” When asked if they plan to move out if they could, Edeen said: “If they let us stay, I wouldn’t really mind.” They have even made friends with some of the other groups who live in the dens and shared notes on how best to arrange their space. Englin said the residences are pretty much at maximum capacity, but providing a stellar experience for students has taken precedence over maintaining a certain amount of open space. “We haven’t been focusing on ‘being full,’” Englin said. “What we focus on is how we can help students be successful.” Hill said the residence hall experience is important for new students. “We would like to be able to offer students a chance to live in the residence halls,” Hill said. “It’s more important for students to have the residential experience rather than say we need a certain percent of space unoccupied so people can move around.” Hill referred to studies that say students who spend their first year on campus have a higher graduation rate and are much more satisfied with their experience over all. “We know that first year is important; [the residence hall] experience is a significant experience
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