Largest freshman class to date settles on campus

Sept. 2, 2013

Monika Reinholz and Jesse Byrnes
[email protected], [email protected]

Colorful plastic buckets with shoes, bags of clothes and armloads of personal belongings filled the on-campus housing area the morning of Aug. 20 as approximately 1,200 freshmen began to move into the dorms.

With classes starting the following week, parents and their students spent the next few days getting new Mountain Lions settled into on-campus dorms and nearby housing.

Those who moved into the Summit, Timberline and Alpine Village dorms two weeks ago are among the 1,600 freshmen expected at UCCS this fall.

Students from every county in Colorado as well as from all 50 states and 40 countries will comprise the 10,500 students enrolled at UCCS this year, the first time the school has seen more than 10,000.

Summit Village, which opened two new buildings Aug. 5, is the traditional residence hall for incoming freshmen and returning students.

“Copper and Eldora are our two new buildings in Summit. They hold 192 beds, a majority of them are a single room in a suite configuration,” said Steve Horner, assistant director of operations for Residence Life and Housing.

There are eight possible bedroom/suite types to choose from in Summit Village, according to Tom Hutton, executive director of University Advancement.

Timberline Village is apartment-style living for returning students. Alpine Village is the upperclassmen and graduate student option on campus.

Despite the extra on-campus housing options that bring the total number of beds to 1,200, at least 300 students – the most ever – were turned away this year, Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak said recently. Last year about 70 were turned away, Shockley-Zalabak said.

Many who are unable to get into the dorms do not attend, a parental decision that the chancellor said she understands.

“Some of our young people from very low income homes need to live at home – and I’m OK with that,” she added.

In March, the school began the process of adding another 510 beds and hopes to have about 250 more by fall of 2015, but it cannot begin the new housing phase until it completes construction on the 1,227-stall parking garage on Austin Bluffs Parkway and Stanton Road, which is expected to be finished March 2014.

Taylor Dartez, a freshman nursing major from Texas, toured UCCS after visiting a friend at the Air Force Academy. “When I toured this university, I fell in love with it,” Dartez said as she moved into Eldora on Aug. 20.

Many students and staff were available to assist with move-in. Campus police helped direct traffic through the village so parents could park their vehicles closer to their students’ dorm rooms.