For the last few years, NC State’s incoming first-year class has grown larger and larger. Because of this, freshmen have had a hard time securing conveniently located housing on campus.
This year, NC State’s incoming class contained 5,601 students, 571 more than last year. Because of the increase, University Housing was not able to allot the space needed on central campus for first-year students, according to Katrina Pawvluk, director of Administration and Occupancy Management.
“This year we had to figure out how to take on this many students,” Pawvluk said. “I was prepared for an increase but was not prepared for one this large.”
According to Donna McGalliard, assistant vice chancellor and executive director of University Housing, the department is always talking to admissions to ensure that as many students can get convenient housing as possible.
“We work very closely with the admissions office to understand their target goal for first-year and transfer students,” McGalliard said. “We are in constant communication with them in general.”
Once Housing learns the target number of students to be accepted, applications can begin and Housing can begin assigning students housing.
“When we learn the number, [we] put our applications live,” McGalliard said. “It is a little bit of a puzzle, but we have a good framework for how that puzzle is out together.”
However, that target number is not always completely spot on, so housing does use a buffer, according to Pawvluk.
“Once they tell me the target number, I usually hold a buffer over it because it is not an exact science,” Pawvluk said. “We always know the class could be larger, and try to plan for that, but this year was a bit bigger than we were able to plan for.”
Housing tries to put first-year students as close to Main Campus as possible so they are near important structures and support systems.
“We’ve tried to make freshmen closer to campus because they are closer to support services, and makes it easier to connect,” Pawvluk said. “The more they are connected the more likely we are to retain them as students. We try really hard to make freshmen more centrally located on campus for this reason.”
This year, because of the large influx of students, Housing was unable to ensure that all first-year students received housing close to campus. Yuvan Suresh Babu, a first-year studying biomedical engineering, lives in Avent Ferry Complex, which is pretty far from Main Campus.
“I personally dislike it a lot. It is very difficult, because I don’t understand the bus system too well, and it varies when the buses come, so to be safe I always walk,” Suresh Babu said. “This means I spend my entire day at north campus because that is where my classes are. I don’t go back to my room because it is a long walk, so if I forget something, I just have to go without it.”
Suresh Babu said being far from Main Campus creates an obstacle in meeting new people and finding friends who are also in their first year.
“It feels like it is more difficult to find friends,” Suresh Babu said. “I know more upperclassmen at Avent Ferry than I do freshman, so it is hard to make friends with other freshmen.”
Despite the difficulty, Suresh Babu said he likes the size of his room and being able to have his own bathroom.
“There’s definitely some tradeoffs,” Suresh Babu said. “I am an introvert, so I like having more space and not having to share a bathroom, but in general it is harder to get to campus.”
Suresh Babu said it is better for first-year students to be closer to campus for meeting people and finding community.
“You need to find people to align with who you can be friends with, and you can better cultivate your interests because there are more things happening on north campus than at Avent Ferry,” Suresh Babu said. “If you’re trying to network or socialize, Avent Ferry is not the best place to be.”
Pawvluk said Housing actively tries to avoid putting students in Avent Ferry Complex, but sometimes have to because of the influx of first-year students, and the ultimate goal is to put students, especially first-years, where they are comfortable and able to find structure and community.
“We moved away from putting freshmen into Avent Ferry Complex unless they fit into the two communities that live there (sports teams and villages), but this class being so large, our only option to meet the live-on requirement was to put some freshmen in that complex this year,” Pawvluk said. “The goal is to not do that again in the future if we don’t have to, and next year I will give myself a bigger buffer after seeing the influx this year.”
