No Enrollment Cap Needed At BU

Enrollment is not limiting housing opportunities at Boston University, according to BU spokesman Colin Riley.

New Jersey’s Rutgers University began instituting more selective admissions practices to offer students convenient housing, the Daily Targum reported last week. Higher SAT scores and class rank percentiles were used as determining factors.

However, BU’s enrollment policies have kept student population steady, Riley said.

“In recent years, the enrollment figures have fluctuated within a small range, from 28,000 to 30,000,” Riley said. “This is what is appropriate for Boston University.”

The enrollment figure has remained stable again — currently Boston University counts about 28,000 students, roughly 50 percent of them being undergraduates, according to Riley. However, more than 1,200 beds have been added over the last couple of years and more housing is planned for the future.

“Boston University houses more students than any other independent university,” Riley said. “The Master Plan called for housing for 75 percent of undergraduates — currently we are at about 80 percent.”

Office of Housing Director Marc Robillard noted the University guarantees housing to all undergraduates as long as each remains in the housing system. He praised BU’s housing plans in the works for future students.

“That was the whole idea of the Student Village,” Robillard said. “The new building at 10 Buick Street provided 817 new beds. Once the project will be completed, it will offer 2,200 beds, a new arena and a recreational center.”

Robillard said demand for housing does fluctuate, but said it has been on the rise for the last 10 years.

“That’s why we had to occasionally use temporary housing to accommodate the demand in the last years,” he said.

There is also not always enough space for students wanting to get back into on-campus housing after leaving it, Robillard said.

The 500 rooms that currently are not filled to capacity could be attributed to the 5 percent net drop in housing demand between the first and second semester, he said.

Karthik Aggarwal, a College of Arts and Sciences freshman, applied for a single before attending Boston University but only received it in the spring semester.

Aggarwal admitted he submitted forms later than he should have and does not blame a lack of housing at Boston University. He said he considers the enrollment numbers to be about right, as long as everyone who is admitted has his or her needs accommodated by the University.

“There are a lot of students, but this is a big school, and we all knew that before we came,” Aggarwal said. “It is large, but not overcrowded. I would say it’s more or less the intended size of the school.”