by Kaity Kopeski
Online Editor
Covering the walls of the Admissions Office are hundreds of colored papers. Each paper has a cartoon figure and each figure represents a real person. It’s a way for the office to visually see the number of students who are enrolled, plus the number of new enrollments, according to Mike Sapienza, vice president for enrollment management.
The green papers represent new enrollments. The goal for next fall’s enrollment is 300 new students, and currently Bryan is “on target,” Sapienza said Tuesday.
While 300 new students wouldn’t normally disrupt residential life, next fall tells a different story. Not only is Bryan planning on having a large incoming class, but also retention is higher than expected, which accounts for changes in the dorms.
The biggest change is for Huston women’s dorm, which will host three students to a room on all four floors. Originally only fourth floor was to be tripled, along with second and fourth in the men’s Long dorm, but a day before room signups an email was sent out postponing signups and announcing the change.
According to Tim Shetter, current RD of Woodlee-Ewing and next fall’s assistant dean of community life, Bryan knows about retention based on notice of intent forms.
“This information was received the day before room signups. So as we crunched the numbers of returning students and new students, we realized the need for more beds and we knew we needed to give students time to make new housing arrangements,” Shetter said.
Many female students who were planning on staying in Huston decided to make their new housing arrangements in Robinson and Arnold.
“I really wanted to stay with my RA and hall in Huston,” said junior Andrea Milligan.
What Milligan didn’t want was dealing with the noise, crowded laundry rooms and showers that would inevitably accompany tripled halls.
While many upperclassmen decided to exodus their beloved dorm, others decided to stay. Last night, after two weeks of postponements, students signed up for rooms.
Twenty-three girls decided to stay in Huston, a bit more than expected, according to Karie Harpest, RD of Huston.
“I’m very encouraged,” she said.
Dean of Students Bruce Morgan said he views upperclassmen living in Huston as “an opportunity for positive influence and mentoring.”
Another benefit includes “class unity” according to Morgan.
Freshman Jessalyn Huffman said she has enjoyed her triple room experience this year.
“A three-person room is more challenging, but you learn to be more gracious and patient,” she said.
Disadvantages of triple rooms include potential for more roommate tension, less privacy and just not enough space or laundry facilities.
Morgan said the school is planning on buying more washers and dyers for Huston to ease the laundry issue.
The ideal situation, Morgan said, would to eliminate triple rooms, but right now that isn’t an option.
However, according to Sapienza, Bryan may not need all rooms in Huston to be triple, but they do need that flexibility. Many students decide not to return during the summer, so it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number of students returning in the fall.
Sapienza said that a few days ago fewer than 30 students said they weren’t returning. While high retention is good, it was “more than anticipated.”
Some students think the college should have anticipated the need for more space, especially for females, since the college is bringing in two new women’s teams in the fall: softball and cheerleading.
“I feel like they should have built a new dorm instead of new apartments,” said junior Danae Gillespie.
According to Sapienza, while having a whole dorm with triple rooms sounds like a huge number, it is actually only 13 more students per hall.
In addition to triple rooms, RA’s across campus, who previously had their own rooms, now have roommates to eliminate the need for even more triple rooms.
Addressing the issue of building a new dorm, Sapienza said Bryan doesn’t have enough students to fill an entire dorm, although two new dorms are in the master plan.
Right now Bryan is focusing on the second phase of the townhouses, which includes two more townhouses, providing 72 more beds.
“I would love to do this next year,” Sapienza said.
The problem lies in the $1.6 million needed to build the dorms, which Bryan currently doesn’t have.
Even lowering the requirements to live off campus may not be a solution, according to Sapienza.
“Resident community is a unique experience…many students want to stay on campus,” he said.
Basically in response to residential living, Sapienza said, “there are no magic formulas.”
Tags: Andrea Milligan, Arnold, Bruce Morgan, enrollment, Huston, Jessalyn Huffman, Mike Sapienza, residential life, retention, Robinson, Tim Shetter, Woodlee-Ewing
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