Record enrollment is expected at Oregon State University this fall, and several campus departments are preparing by creating more resources, staff and housing for students.
OSU currently has 36,636 total students, which has grown by 7,910 in the past 10 years. Record enrollment is almost certain this year, with a record number of first-year applications, according to Jon Boeckenstedt, OSU vice provost of enrollment management.
“We have continued to see an increasing number of students wanting to live on campus as enrollment has increased, which has led to University Housing & Dining Services creating more beds for students to live on campus,” said Brian Stroup, director of operations and facilities for UHDS.
An example of this additional housing is the new residence building that opened at 1045 SW Madison Ave. this fall, according to Stroup.
Stroup said he firmly believes living on campus is “a critical component for an incoming new student’s success.” It helps students get connected with the community around them and helps them stay persistent.
However, there is a challenge to meeting the demand of students wanting to live on campus with rising enrollment.
“UHDS is actively working to build more housing that students would want to live in past their first year,” Stroup said.
UHDS is also in contact with campus partners getting more plans in place to accommodate more students, according to Stroup.
Rising enrollment can also impact students with disabilities. According to Earlee Kerekes-Mishra, assistant director of Disability Access Services, they have been continuing to try to make accommodations in a timely manner for a growing student population.
She said DAS has just approved four new hires, and they are “looking at the fall term in a really good position to serve students.”
Time has been the main issue with the growing enrollment.
“We still are able to serve and support the students, it just takes more time and so sometimes it is taking closer to three weeks or four weeks to review documentation and provide services instead of a week or two weeks,” Kerkes-Mishra said.
DAS is accommodating students better now that they are removing students who have graduated or left OSU from their active list and refining the numbers, according to Kerkes-Mishra. They are looking at different years when the university had less growth and strategizing to figure out how things have changed.
Kerekes-Mishra said it comes down to a need for sufficient staff in every area of OSU to support students. This means people able to teach classes, people in Counseling & Psychological Services, people in housing, people on the care team and at the tutoring and academic success center.
“So making sure that as our student pop-ulation grows, our staff population is able to grow with it in order to meet those needs of the students,” Kerekes-Mishra said.
