Upperclassmen all over campus at the University of Hartford have noted the influx of first-year students this fall. This year’s freshman class, the Class of 2019, is the largest class the University has had since 2009.
In fact, according to assistant vice president for Residential Life Michael Malone, there are about 16,000 new students with about 200 more than the Class of 2018.
This means that freshmen are living throughout every residence hall on campus — even those reserved for upperclassmen. Freshmen are in E and F complex, and about 50 lucky students are even experiencing apartment-style living early on in Regents.
While housing is clearly brimming with students, it actually could have been even more packed. The University was allegedly expecting even more freshmen to be living on campus, but according to Malone, “Some first-year students have withdrawn from housing and some have not checked in [at all].” Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, one thing is for sure —space is limited.
However, now that the semester is in session, the room change period has also officially begun. Efforts are being made to relocate as many freshmen as possible to spots in the complexes. Malone stated, “We have begun offering first-year students in Regents Park spaces in A–D complexes. We expect that we will have some first-year students in Regents Park through the fall semester, but will have everyone relocated to the complexes by the start of the spring semester.”
Notably, though, the difficult housing situation is not only due to the arrival of such a vast group of first-year students. There were also more returning students than usual who chose to remain in campus housing and some returning commuter students who requested to live on campus this year. As Malone put it, “More new students plus fewer returning students departing equaled the tight housing situation we worked with throughout the summer.”
Malone also explained that it is highly likely that the University will have about as many freshmen next year.
“We are beginning to plan for accommodating them in the complexes,” he said.
So what happens if the University really does become home to another immense freshmen class next year? Malone responded that “there are no immediate plans to build a new residence hall but conversation continues about how to best use our existing facilities including renovation and remodeling.”
That being said, if residence halls are very close to full occupancy, flexibility regarding room changes will become nearly impossible.
But how did the University fit so many freshmen when classes were this large previously?
Dean of Admissions Rick Zeiser explained that before 2009, it was actually normal to have so many first-year students. He mentioned the fact that “in 2003 the number was 1,603; 2005 was 1,613; 2007 was 1,668; 2008 was 1,648,” and that this year’s class is expected to have about 1,615–1,630 students when the official census is taken on Oct. 2.
These classes were all here before Hawk Hall was built, making it so that “up to 250 rooms in the complexes were tripled.”
Housing situations aside, having the size of the freshmen class increase this year has been not only beneficial, but necessary.
Zeiser mentioned that “enrollment levels similar to those in the past are optimal in paying for the construction of Hawk Hall, the mortgage so to speak.”
The freshmen tuition is expected to help with other campus updates as well.
“Chief among those are the renovations of both the library and Gengras Student Union,” Zeiser said.
No matter the freshmen class size, the University of Hartford is excited to welcome them and especially excited for the great year ahead.