Bloomington to welcome smaller freshman class

This year’s freshman class is smaller than last year’s, but it will encounter the temporary housing problems that freshmen faced last year.

The number of freshmen slated to attend IU decreased this year to about 7,100 students. Last year, 7,564 freshmen enrolled at IU, the largest first-year student class IU has ever had. The 2007-08 freshman class was made up of 7,197 students.

Despite this year’s class being smaller, Residential Programs and Services expects to see about 100 students living in temporary housing this fall.

Sara Ivey Lucas, assistant director for housing assignments, said there are 250 more students returning to the residence halls than there were last year.

“We will guarantee housing for first-year students,” Ivey Lucas said. “We are really happy that our returning numbers are so high.”

This fall will be the third consecutive year students will have to sleep in lounges instead of rooms until permanent housing is found for them. The majority of students who were faced with temporary housing last year were international and graduate students, according to an Oct. 6, 2008, Indiana Daily Student article.

Ivey Lucas said RPS is still receiving late housing applications, so the number of students who will live in residence halls changes every day.

About 6,500 freshmen and 800 transfer students already went through the orientation program, said Melanie Payne, director of new student orientation. Orientation sessions will continue in August.

“Some students for a variety of reasons couldn’t make it to IU,” Payne said.
She said many international students usually attend orientation in August because of
the distance between their home and IU.

IU is no longer admitting freshmen for the upcoming year, said David Johnson, associate vice provost for enrollment management. The number of expected students includes those who have paid the deposit and have reserved or attended orientation.

Johnson said one reason why the number of freshmen decreased could be because of the economy.

Thirty-three percent of this year’s freshmen class is out-of-state students, Johnson said. Sixty-seven percent of freshmen are in-state students.

“It’s a good-size class,” Johnson said. “We were wanting to have a smaller class but also needed to meet a class of 7,000. That is what is expected for our campus in terms of freshman class enrollment.”