Reflecting on their tour of the college, upperclassmen at the college recall the appeal of Wofford. Tour guides excitedly strolled around the campus, pointing out the walkability of the campus and close knit community.
Walking around the senior village, the tour guides excitedly mention that seniors live in these beautiful Charleston-style homes with porches fixed with rocking chairs.
Here, they add in the famous statistic: About 95% of the student body lives on campus all four years.
But students have been questioning this statistic in recent years.
Last academic year, outrage erupted for students, as they were informed by the residence life office over the summer that they did not have a bed on campus for the Fall 2023 semester.
A current senior found out in July 2023 that they would not be placed to live on campus by Residence Life. They rushed to find an off-campus apartment.
Though they were able to find an apartment, they feel disconnected from the campus.
These students have made the most of their impromptu living situations, but this was something that was unforeseen.
Nayef Samhat, the eleventh president of the college, wants students to understand that these issues were unplanned.
According to him, the college did not plan to admit the largest classes in the college’s history the past two admissions cycles. They did not know that a large portion of these admitted students would commit to the college. These increases in enrollment numbers and class size were unprecedented.
“Those two years were not planned. Now, lots of colleges are struggling to have students. It posed a variety of questions that we have had to address on campus–in student life, housing and academics,” said Samhat. “I like to think that (the past classes of the college) are a reflection of (how) great a place this is.”
A concern with the current issues of housing and spots in classes is enrollment numbers and class size. With the college exceeding the enrollment expectations in recent years, students are concerned with enrollment continuing to rise.
The college plans to address these concerns by altering their admissions rates.
“This year, we intentionally reduced the class size. This year and next year, we reduced the admit rate and the number of students admitted,” said Samhat. “This was done with a very intentional goal of bringing the overall enrollment to 1,775 and 1,800 students, which is what we have planned,”
Additionally, work of Michael S. Brown Village Center, more commonly referred to as Phase 5, was more prolonged. This is because the work to the parapets and sealing off the walls to prevent water leakage require more time than originally anticipated.
This summer, construction will be done on both sides of Phase 5. Despite the scaffolding being up for almost a year, construction still has at least a couple of months remaining, and maybe even more.
“It will be a challenge to get those rooms ready for the fall,” said Samhat.
The college will also be renovating Phase 1 and Phase 2 in the Village and expanding the gravel lot to include 86 spots. Next summer, the college will renovate Phase 3 and Phase 4 apartments.
The college’s ultimate goal is for everyone that desires to live on campus, to have a bed. The bed may not be in the desired area of campus, but it is a bed nonetheless.
The goal is for all students to have a spot to live on campus, if they have paid their deposit on time and registered for housing by the deadline.
Students who are planning to live abroad for the Fall 2024 semester need to be sure to check their email and get forms completed by the deadlines, to ensure that they will not have issues with housing.
