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Student housing faces the numbers

Posted on Aug 30, 2010 in News

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In 1976, when UAB added 45 city blocks for campus expansion, it was doubtful administrators could have predicted the enormous growth and need for more space the university would be facing less than 35 years later.

With about 18,000 students and an annual impact of more than $3 billion on Birmingham, the university continues to expand drastically every year.

With the arrival a couple of weeks ago of the largest freshman class in university history, residence halls were filled with new and returning students. 

 UAB has an urban campus and began as a university more centered in commuting than in student life—twelve years ago 70 percent of students lived outside Southside. In spite of this history, things have changed.

The evolution of capacity shows that in the fall of 1999, no more than 1,520 students were living on campus; in fall 2001, the number had increased to 1,730 students.

Now approximately 2,100 students live on campus, and even more live just around the corner in Southside.

These numbers represent a growth of 27 percent in 11 years, a total of 567 more students on campus.

So far, the Office of Student Housing and Residential Life, working in accordance with UAB’s planning, has managed to accommodate the students in residence halls.

Housing director Marc Booker says that UAB is not only aware of the exponential growth in the number of on-campus students, but also that, as always, “we do everything we can to accommodate freshmen.”

Even though the university does not have official plans to build new residence halls to accommodate the growing number of students, the administration is aware of the situation and talks are being held on the matter.

“Decisions are made throughout the whole year, from February to move-in day,” said Booker. “UAB is always trying to anticipate its growth.”

Even though the number of rooms is limited and the number of students grows every year, for Booker, the increase in student life on campus hardly constitutes a problem. Having this many students interested in living at UAB “is a good situation to be in.”

According to Dr. Carol Garrison, UAB’s president, spaces around campus could be explored for housing. Student Housing and Residential Life has already made decisions to accommodate more students.

“We eliminated all single rooms,” said Booker. “Plenty of students chose not live on campus, not because there are not enough rooms, but because there are no more rooms in the building they wanted.”

Booker believes that student life enhances students’ sense of community and helps them perform better academically.

“Students are more likely to graduate by being on campus,” he stated.

The university’s strategic plan states that the goal of UAB is “to give students the best possible preparation for productive and meaningful careers and lives that benefit society.”

The plan also states that “what gets measured gets done.” So far, only measuring has been done in relation to the housing capacity evolution.

UAB has five residence halls: Blazer Hall, which holds 720 beds; Camp Hall, 370; Rast Hall, 400; Denman, 150; and Blount Hall with 500 spaces.

Blazer and Camp are reserved for freshmen, while the others accommodate upperclassmen.

If the growth continues in the same pace as in the last decade, in 2020 UAB will have around 567 more students to accommodate: a demand sufficed by the equivalent of a new Blount Hall and a new Denman Hall added together.

Email: corzan@uab.edu 

 




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