As The Reflector so faithfully reported a couple weeks ago, enrollment for Mississippi State has significantly increased over the last few years, including this year especially. As it was, MSU housing was already having significant trouble housing all the students.
So, in their infinite wisdom, MSU decided to require freshmen to live on campus, even though most of them already do. And as usual, when authorities think they know what is best for everyone, they end up screwing everything up.
I think it is a reflection of the university’s recent trend of emphasizing quantity over quality. Instead of focusing on individual students, the university is seeking as many students as possible and, henceforth, more money.
The problem rests with the fact that MSU is being too greedy and biting off more than it can chew. Campus enrollment is increasing faster than MSU can accommodate.
The Reflector recently reported that “[associate vice president for student affairs Lisa] Harris said increasing enrollment was not done haphazardly but was calculated and strategic due to the planned efforts of Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs.”
I find that very hard to believe.
I was one of those students who got rejected by housing this summer. I neglected my Student Housing Application Renewal Process until May because I was going to get an apartment but changed my plans. I was told nothing of housing being up to full capacity. Instead, I was told I would find out my assignment much later in the summer. Not until the week before school started was I told housing was at full capacity. And even then, I did not know anything about having to show up to fill out extra paperwork until several days after school started. I called several times, but all along I felt like I was being treated as a mere number.
In the meantime, I slept on a friend’s couch in Arbour Acres and searched for an apartment. At the end of the first week of school, I finally got an assignment and had to choose a room immediately or it would be forfeited. Luckily I was able to call my off-campus apartment to see if they had found out about any no-shows yet, and I got a room there.
By no means am I excusing myself for applying late. However, as an institution, MSU housing has a responsibility not to neglect its constituents in such a manner.
Normally, the money earned from the increased enrollment should be used in proportion to help the university grow, but that somehow is not being done. Instead we are sticking three people to a room.
In the process, upperclassmen who want to stay in the dorms and poor students who want to stay in apartments that are cheaper than dorms are being hurt. For a 12-month lease, including utilities, I am paying much less than I would for eight months in a crappy MSU residence hall – just another example of government waste. The powers that be also think that mandating students to live in dorms will give them a better college experience. Most of them already live in the dorms. And who can tell me, seriously, that students are not getting a college experience by living in an apartment?
The school needs to maintain an increase in the quality of education and accommodation proportionate to the increase in enrollment, or its long term health will crash. No one will care how many students or money MSU has if it cannot even accommodate or satisfy its students.
Lazarus Austin is a senior majoring in history. He can be contacted at [email protected] Lazarus Austin is a senior majoring in history.