Cars lining the campus streets, bins rolling down the sidewalks, a chatter that hasn’t been heard since spring: Oregon State University’s move-in brings new students and new energy for the fall.
Oregon State brings in thousands of new students each year and has had increasing levels of enrollment over the last few years. Many students, especially those without cars on campus, or those who have come to OSU from another state, move in with the help of family and friends.
With three days beginning Wednesday and fifteen different residence halls, a lot of organization is required for move in to function smoothly. OSU provides move-in guides with unloading zone passes and traffic flow maps and will direct cars on major campus roads including SW Washington Way and SW 26th St.
“It was pretty straightforward, everything was communicated well,” said Tony Harder, the parent of an OSU freshman.
The Harder’s helped their son Alec Harder, an incoming nuclear engineering student, move in this year.
OSU’s residence halls are split between south, east and west sections of the campus. To keep any area from getting too congested, different buildings in each section move in across all three days.
Dozens of people are at work directing traffic and giving directions, others work in the campus service centers and the residence hall employees such as resident assistants, academic learning assistants and diversity learning assistants aid students during the process.
“It was fifteen times easier (today) than when I was here fourteen years ago,” said Kristen White, while helping Allison Thomason, an incoming biology student, move in. She expressed that the move-in process had been much more chaotic in the past but was “super easy” this year.
Lauren Andrada similarly described the process as “pretty smooth” and “well laid out”. She and her husband George helped their daughter Maddy move in. Maddy will be studying kinesiology and is a first-year student, like the other residents of McNary Hall.
First year students are required to live on campus, with limited exceptions, and make up the majority of those moving in this week and living in the halls. Many residence halls only have first-years, but there are options for returning students interested in living on campus again.
Halsell Hall is specifically for second-year and above, transfer and graduate students to live in. There are also designated floors for second-year and above students in Tebeau, Hawley, Buxton, the International Living Learning Center, Bloss and Callahan.
The Gem and SW Madison Avenue apartments are also University housing, but they are not a part of the move-in process like the on campus residence halls.
Typically, move-in happens over a weekend, rather than in the middle of the week. Although this could cause strain for some parents balancing work schedules with helping their students move in, it also gives new students more time to unpack and get used to the campus before jumping into academics.
The earlier dates also give first-year students more opportunities to attend the weekend’s events with returning students before fall term begins on Sept. 25. These include the Beaver Bash on Friday, the football game against Purdue on Saturday, and the Jumpin Damboree on Sunday.
FORTE, OSU’s academic onboarding program for first years, as well as the Convocation festivities, will happen on Monday and Tuesday.
