Fewer students expected next fall

IU's incoming class is expected to number 400 fewer students than last year's record enrollment -- good news, officials say, for campus resources that have been stretched in recent years.\nOfficials said the drop is not a result of a recent increase in tuition.\nVice Chancellor for Enrollment Services Don Hossler said admissions models suggest that only 40 to 50 students will decide not to attend IU because of the 7.5 percent tuition hike approved by the board of trustees in June.\nHossler said the fluctuation in enrollment is because of statistical volatility -- but as long as the final number falls within 5 percent of the target, he said, a social scientist has to be happy.\nNon-resident enrollment is up slightly at about 35 percent, and international student enrollment is also up, he said. In-state enrollment is down slightly.\nThe class will include a student from every state in the U.S.\nIf realized, the slight dip in enrollment is expected to relieve stress on a wide range of IU resources -- including classrooms and housing.\nHossler said the incoming students, expected to number between 6,500 and 6,600, will be more manageable than last year's class of 6,900, which he said was too large.\nDirector of Residential Operations Bob Weith said the dorms will be full, but not as full as they were.\nDorm occupancy is expected to top off at 98 percent, a far cry from last year, when 150 students were forced to temporarily live in dorm lounges.\n"My best guess is that we won't have to use lounges (this year)," Weith said.\nAfter remedying the overcrowding problem last year, RPS examined long-term solutions, expecting even larger freshman classes in the future.\n"These next couple of years will be pretty crowded," Patrick Connor, the division's executive director, told the IDS last August. "We basically don't have any more space."\nAbout 10,300 students lived in the residence halls last year.\nWeith, who said he's pleasantly surprised by the quicker pace of this year's room assignments, said lower freshman enrollments are only partially responsible for the lower-than-expected dorm population: retention in the dorms is also down slightly.\nCampus apartments, on the other hand, will be full for the first time in eight years for the fall semester, said Tim Stockton, RPS assistant director for apartment housing.\nStockton credits the increase on convenience, proximity, parking availability, ethernet and a new push to promote the apartments by the division.\nThe increase is also another factor in the drop in dorm retention, he said.\nFor the incoming class, the number of applications for admission soared to 21,000, up about 600 from last year, Hossler said. Of them, about 17,000 were admitted.\nHossler said the admissions target was for 6,600 to 6,700 students. He projects that between 6,500 and 6,600 students will actually enroll.