After issues with accommodation last year, Residential Housing does not expect any issue with fitting all students
OU officials said accommodating all students into dorms this year should not be an issue, despite a record number of applications and expected enrollment.
Pete Trentacoste, executive director of Residential Housing, said in an email the new South Green dorms will help alleviate some of the housing issues that occurred last year.
“We have additional beds available this year with the opening of Phase I and we are adjusting our demolition schedule to manage the current on-campus demand,” Trentacoste said in an email. “I am not concerned about accommodating our students this year.”
The four new South Green dorms give Residential Housing more space, including 912 beds as a part of Phase I construction, Trentacoste said.
Cady, Foster and Brough Houses are scheduled to be demolished in the upcoming year, but Residential Housing still has about 8,600 beds at maximum capacity, he said.
“As a result, we will have more space available compared to last year,” Trentacoste said.
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In addition, OU received 20,957 applications, the highest it has ever had, to its Athens campus this year. And of the students who applied, around 15,500 were admitted, said Craig Cornell, vice provost for Enrollment Management, in a previous Post report.
In addition, around 4,500 freshmen have committed to enrolling at the Athens Campus for this fall semester, which is expected to be a new enrollment record, President Roderick McDavis said in an OU news release July 20.
OU spokeswoman Katie Quaranta said final numbers related to enrollment and the exact number of freshman students won’t be available until a few weeks into Fall Semester.
Last year’s record enrollment for the freshman class included 4,377 students, which caused some issues with Residential Housing.
“Last year we anticipated having fall cancellations follow the same course they had in previous years,” Trentacoste said in an email. “That did not occur and as a result, we had a crunch at the beginning of the year.”
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Nearly 40 male Resident Assistants were placed with another student and around 50 had to room in lounge or study spaces, according to a previous Post report.
Residential Housing also converted triples serving as doubles back to triples to assist with the shortage, according to the article.
“As a result, we had to make changes to student accommodations that were made in the final month of summer,” Trentacoste said. “That is never an ideal situation and it is one that we prefer to avoid in the future whenever we can.”
Trentacoste said although it can be a challenge to accommodate all students, he’s still excited for the start of the year.
“We are excited to welcome our new and returning Bobcats to campus this fall,” he said. “We are especially excited this year to open four new residence halls and the new living learning center. It's a great time to be a Bobcat.”
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