Students Flood Virginia Colleges

There's a growing tide of incoming students to Virginia's state colleges and universities. The problem is there's hardly enough room for them.

At Old Dominion University, for example, a "large increase in the freshman class" required 24 students to live in a hotel in downtown Norfolk, and over 200 students to live in triples, ODU spokeswoman Jennifer Mullen said.

Although over 19,000 students enrolled at ODU this year - a record increase from about 18,600 the year before - ODU was "able to accommodate everyone who requested on-grounds housing," she said.

The story is the same at multiple colleges across the Commonwealth, including Virginia Tech and James Madison University, as administrators try to grapple with the problem of dramatically increasing enrollment coupled with shrinking state financial support.

State legislators have begun to leave educators in the awkward position of adding new students without adding more money to their current budgets, which were frozen by the year's fiscal stalemate in the General Assembly.

And according to future enrollment predictions, the problem is going to get worse.

The state predicted last month that 38,000 additional students would enter higher education this decade, a 10 percent increase from current enrollment.

Despite the huge increase statewide, this flood of students may not affect the University anytime soon.

Officials believe enrollment at the University will be very close to target value set and approved by the Board of Visitors in April, which was 12,535 undergraduate students for 2001.

After students complete final registration, the numbers should "be very close [to target numbers], differing by only a handful of students," University Director of Institutional Studies George Stovall said.

The University steadily has expanded the first-year class for more than a decade, and officials accommodated the increase this year with openings in the new Woody House and the International Residential College.

The increase is slight compared to those faced by other colleges this fall.

The University differs from others in the state in that it has limits its growth, Associate Director of Accommodations John Evans said.

The Board of Visitors establishes target numbers, and there is "pressure to hit those targets exactly," he said. Housing is "always able to anticipate and plan for increases."

There currently are "no concrete plans for any additional construction in the McCormick and Alderman Road residence areas due to space limitations, but space will eventually have to be made available for growth in the future," he added.

The Board of Visitors establishes target numbers, and there is "pressure to hit those targets exactly," he said. Housing is "always able to anticipate and plan for increases."

There currently are "no concrete plans for any additional construction in the McCormick and Alderman Road residence areas due to space limitations, but space will eventually have to be made available for growth in the future," he added.