Clarification appended.
The 1.1 percent increase in next year's undergraduate enrollment approved by the Corporation at its Feb. 12 meeting will not necessitate the placement of students in temporary housing next fall, according to Richard Bova, senior associate dean of residential and dining services. Enrollment for next year is slated to increase to 6,000, a 1.8 percent increase in enrollment over what the Corporation approved last February.
The Office of Residential Life currently has 4,645 beds, Bova said. But next year's enrollment figure as it stands will add 64 more students than are on campus this year and 105 more than the Corporation approved last year.
Last fall, 82 students were put in temporary housing to compensate for this year's elevated enrollment figure, Bova said. Currently, 46 live in temporary housing, which includes converted kitchens and lounges.
"This year was atypical," he said.
In order to guarantee all students housing, ResLife takes into account the total predicted enrollment for the fall as well as the number of students on leave to determine how many will be granted off-campus permission, Bova said. ResLife guarantees undergraduate students on-campus housing for all four years and will compensate for next year's increase in enrollment by allowing more students to live off campus, Bova said.
All 954 rising seniors who have applied to live off campus have been granted permission, as well as 250 of the 345 rising juniors who applied, according to Bova. Given the number of off-campus applications received and students already approved to live off campus, a projected 4,796 students will need to live in on-campus housing next semester, though this figure does not take into account those students who will not need on-campus housing such as those studying abroad or taking leaves of absence.
"In a perfect world, every single number lines up correctly, but I do not know of one single college campus whose numbers line up perfectly based on their projections," Bova said.
Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron also said that projections often differ from actual yields.
For next year, taking "early precautions for off-campus housing" should "alleviate any particular strain of what is a relatively small change," Bergeron said about the increased enrollment. She added that after fall 2012, additional housing — including a renovated dorm at 315 Thayer St. — will accommodate the growth of the student body.
The enrollment increase was recommended to the Corporation, the University's highest governing body, by the University Resources Committee in its annual report, which was made public after the meeting.
Compared to peer institutions, a large portion of the University's revenue comes from tuition, said Evan Schwartz '13, who sits on the URC. If an extra 105 students were to pay next year's full student charge of $53,136, it would increase the budget by $5,579,280.
Last year's URC report budgeted for 5,895 students, but the number of students currently on Brown's campus is closer to 5,936, according to the report. The discrepancy is in part due to over-enrollment of the current junior class, Bergeron said.
When the Class of 2012 was admitted in 2008, about 50 more students matriculated than expected.
Bergeron emphasized that the University's plan is to "stabilize" the enrollment at 6,000 as opposed increasing enrollment every year, as it has done in the past few years. To accomplish the enrollment goal, the University will initially increase the number of transfer students accepted next year by about 50, according to Bergeron.
The University increased the first-year enrollment goal to 1,500 from the current 1,485 after the current junior class graduates to sustain a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,000.
The URC based its decision on the input of the Enrollment Working Group, led by Bergeron. The group considered a number of different ways an increase in enrollment could effect the University, including the student-faculty ratio, advising and housing. None of these factors will be significantly effected by the enrollment increase, Bergeron said.
A previous version of this article stated a projected 4,796 students will need to live in on-campus housing next semester. That figure represents the number of students who do not have permission to live off campus, but does not take into account the number of students who will not need housing from the Office of Residential Life, including those studying abroad or taking leaves of absence.
