The “full college experience” is defined differently by each and every student. But the one thing the majority of these definitions share is the campus. As we are all aware, The University of Alabama is a very popular school. With 15 national championships in football and countless other championship-winning sports teams, who wouldn’t want to attend the University?
But, beneath Alabama’s success in sports lies an institution with a rich tradition that everyone can fall in love with alongside its numerous accolades. The only problem with this tradition is that despite efforts to make more room by encouraging upperclassmen to seek off-campus housing, many freshmen are still denied the full college experience because there are simply just not enough bed spaces on campus.
Living on campus in a residence hall allows students the opportunity to be in the center of both the University itself and the University’s social life at all times. Now granted, advertisement for social events on campus is not that big of an issue.
But for one who not only lives but also spends most of their free time off campus, a sense of connection can be harder to establish. Being an overflow student myself last year, I was able to make friends and attend events during the daytime, but due to my lack of transportation, I did not do much on campus at night or on the weekends. The apartment that I lived in for my freshman year was not entirely too far from campus, but a 35 minute walk to the Ferg on a sunny 93 degree day or a chilly 30 degree afternoon just wasn’t worth it sometimes.
On-campus living is crucial to students in their freshman year for a smooth transition and a proper introduction to university life. The University is fully capable of promising this to incoming students; however, it appears as though accepting a surplus of students when there is already not enough space on campus is more important.
The way I see it, the University can fix this problem one of two ways. Option number one, the University can slow up on its acceptances. I understand that former university president Robert Witt set out to increase admission so that the population would reach his goal over a span of years. However, this goal has already been met rather quickly. Last year’s fall freshman class entered with 6,397 students, increasing enrollment to over 33,000 students. Obviously, the University is not going to be able to house the entire 33,000 students enrolled, but not being able to house a full freshman class is unacceptable. Slowing admission down will certainly not hurt the University.
Option number two is also a pretty simple fix: build more residence halls. It’s hard not to notice the giant cranes around campus, so it’s quite evident that the University knows that more housing is needed, but the construction sure does take quite a while. The construction of the second Presidential Village began when I started attending the University last fall. Since then, I have seen at least three apartment complexes nearby constructed and ready for move-in, as well as multiple Greek housing projects either near completion or already finished. Meanwhile, the construction of the second Presidential Village is still going on. You tell me what’s wrong with that picture.
As long as the University continues accepting more freshmen than it can handle, housing will continue to become a problem for students here. And as for the future freshmen, they will be stripped of the chance for a full college experience for at least one year of their college careers. One can only hope that the current administration will take the necessary steps towards fixing this increasingly-growing problem.
Erynn Williams is a sophomore majoring in dance and international studies. Her column runs bi-weekly.
