The Daily Orange,
SU’s student newspaper, reported yesterday that the U. is scrambling to lodge
this fall’s freshman cohort of 3,524 students. One group of 30 students
(Quiet Lifestyle Learning Community) will occupy a floor of the Syracuse
Sheraton on the edge of campus; in a less popular arrangement, the University is
converting double-occupancy rooms to triple and handing out discounts. No
mention in the article of where the Raucous Lifestyle Learning Community will
rest their heads this fall. From the article:
[J.C.], an undeclared human services and health professions major, said he
would like to live in the Sheraton. However, he would be very upset if the
university placed him in a converted triple, he said."I would be very, very shocked and surprised," he said. "I would probably want
to take my money back and transfer to another school. You pay $41,000 to come
to this school and you get put in a room that’s smaller than a prison cell?"
Campus living space as prison cell: such killjoy. Twice as many
roommates to share in the intellectual and social wonders of freshman year!
Get the full article
here (you’ll need a login, so feel free to co-opt the EWM Express Pass: ewm@ewm.com. But don’t send me any email at this address, if you
know what I mean.)
Added: Oh, okay, so it was “published” back in May. But the item just came through on the DO feed (in Bloglines) yesterday. That’s what I meant. Old, but least it’s not year-old.
Colgate had what they called a “bulge class” about ten years ago. They built temporary housing that was supposed to last 4 years but that that they’re still using. When universities, inadvertently or advertently, admit a too-large FY class, the results ain’t pretty.
Appalachian State students suffered the same fate 2 & 3 years ago. The hardy survived/thrived the situation–some did not.
From a purely financial perspective, I understand allowing the excess enrollment, but it makes so little sense for the rest of the programs and practical operations, and, as has likely been the case at Colgate and App. St., retention of “bulge classes” reflects the discontentment. It’ll be interesting to watch it play out this fall, but for the first time in quite a few years, I won’t have a classroom full of freshmen sharing their first experiences at a new U.
The University of Washington did that four years ago – three to a room (I think they admitted over 5K freshmen that year). They had the floor plan online and the room was as big as our yard shed. No wonder M. opted for the 50 minute commute each way (now 1 hour 10 minutes). He is looking forward to his 7 minute commute at the University of Wisconsin. I think some kids can manage and for some it is a bad experience – too bad.