As freshman enrollment continues to increase, university officials have been forced to house some freshmen in upperclassman residence halls for at least the second straight year, a trend that leaves some first-year students separated from their peers.
This year, 70 freshmen have been assigned rooms in Village C East, traditionally an upperclassman dormitory, said Karen Frank, vice president for facilities and student housing. Last year, approximately 60 freshmen were housed in VCE.
Frank said that there are simply not enough spaces to accommodate all freshmen in freshmen-only dorms.
“Georgetown does not have a housing shortage for first-year students,” she said.
Frank said the university was not considering building additional student housing, but that first-year students living in VCE will be given the option to relocate as spaces in freshman dorms become available. She said that typically a handful of expected new students each year decide not to matriculate.
According to Frank, the Office of the Provost establishes the target freshmen class size, and the Office of Housing reserves the corresponding number of spaces before any upperclassmen select housing for the upcoming year.
This occurs well before the actual matriculation of the incoming class in April and May, and therefore a higher than anticipated yield among accepted students can lead to a housing crunch. James Colman, associate director of undergraduate admissions, said that approximately 50 percent of accepted freshmen matriculated into the Class of 2011, a slightly higher rate than last year.
“Our target freshmen class size was 1,580 students, but there are always a few people, whether added or withdrawn, that alter this figure,” Colman said. According to the university’s Web site, there are 1,580 members of the Class of 2011.
Rachel Clune (COL ’11), who lives on the eighth floor of VCE, a freshmen-only floor, said she likes her dorm and feels that there is already a strong camaraderie between her floor and the ninth floor, which is also exclusively freshmen.
“I am definitely more comfortable knowing that everyone [on my floor] is a freshman, not being mixed in with sophomores and juniors,” she said.
Tiffany Marshall (COL ’11), one of four freshmen living on the building’s sixth floor, said that she enjoys the floor’s quietness and the building in general, but that she has some reservations.
“Overall I think I will like it, but it certainly would have been nice to have been on an all-freshmen floor,” she said. “But, even so, I want to meet all sorts of students . people are people.”
In addition to the 70 freshmen in Village C East, 24 freshmen are living in other upperclassmen dorms this year as members of Living-Learning Communities. Participants in an LLC live on a floor with students who share a similar interest and collaboratively combine academic pursuits together with extra-curricular activities.