FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas will welcome another record-breaking number of freshmen to the Fayetteville campus this fall.
They are expecting to top 30,000 students this year, with 7,000 incoming freshmen, up almost 1,000 from last year. Freshmen are required to live on campus, but with only 6,200 beds, the university has to put some students in off-campus apartments.
“We obviously have a limited space on campus, so we’re doing whatever we can to house these students, but still provide them the type of college experience that they would get in a dorm as well,” said John Thomas, Director of Media Relations and Court Communications.
The students living in these apartments will be under a university housing contract and will pay by the semester. The apartments will come fully furnished and have RA’s so students get that first-year college experience.
“It’ll be university housing staff, so they’re still engaged with the campus, just like if you were living on campus, you just happen to be living in these apartment complexes,” Thomas said.
The university started partnering with four off-campus apartments last year when more upperclassmen wanted on-campus housing, but they didn’t have the space. The apartments give students an easy way to find housing close to campus, but many people in the region are already struggling to find housing.
“I think, you know this increase is going to put additional pressure on a housing market that is already tight,” said Duke McLarty, Executive Director of the Workforce Housing Center, NWA Council.
McLarty says the region is experiencing a difficult time as people are being priced out of the central cities. He says the overcrowding going on at the university seems to echo situations in the region's major cities.
“I think this just underscores the need for more development, more housing in Fayetteville, and really throughout the region,” McLarty said.
McLarty says inflation and higher interest rates are not helping the housing situation, and neither is an increase in new residents.
“I think this is a great example of a housing market that is struggling with its growth. I think a housing market that is healthy, there are housing options at all different price points throughout the region, and if this market were, I think in a healthier place, we would be in a better position to absorb a surge of new residents,” McLarty said.
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