West Virginia University may be looking at a banner enrollment year of more than 23,000 students for the first time since 19933,800 of whom are first-time freshmen, WVU President David C. Hardesty said Wednesday (Aug. 13). While those figures wont be firm until November, one thing is certain: University housing is at full capacity, and some 1,000-plus spaces have been reserved for the overflow.

“Essentially, University housing in our nine residence halls is at full capacity, and we have reserved over 1,000 extended housing spaces within the greater Morgantown community,”Hardesty said.”This enrollment growth is something that we forecasted last spring and have been planning for in terms of housing these additional studentsin terms of adding additional core classes so they have full and meaningful schedulesand in terms of providing quality advising,”he added.

Officials attribute the growth to a wide variety of factors, including some 1,500 PROMISE Scholars who will be attending WVU ; the Resident Faculty Leader program that places top faculty near the halls to serve as mentors and friends to students; the WVUp All Night program on weekends that provides late night alternatives; new facilities such as the Student Recreation Center, Library Complex and Life Sciences Building; and other student life initiatives under the umbrella of Operation Jump-Start.

“These factors all add up to a unique student-centered culture,”Hardesty said.

Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Amir Mohammadi said WVU will accommodate approximately 3,700 studentsmostly freshmen, along with some resident assistants, resident directors (RAs/RDs) and upperclassmenin WVU s nine campus residence halls.

The other 1,000-plus students will live in Extended University Housing at four privately-owned residence halls or complexes leased by the University for the academic year. Those include:

• Sterling Ridge University on VanVoorhis Road for approximately 230 upperclassmen and transfer students

• Spruce House, a former sorority house at 544 Spruce St. for approximately 40 freshmen females

• Pierpont House on Oakland Street near the Health Sciences Center for about 100 students, mostly freshmen

• ummit Hall on Grant Avenue, near the new Life Sciences Building, for approximately 500 freshmen.

Some students will also stay temporarily at the Star City Holiday Inn (40 freshmen) or in extended housing areas in the residence halls (about 90 freshmen) until permanent spaces free up.

Mohammadi said Resident Faculty Leaders (RFLs) along with Resident Assistants and Resident Directors (RAs/RDs) have been assigned to all these areas, and students can use their Mountaineer ID cards to eat at any of the dining hall facilities. In addition, there are extended bus hours being provided to the various sites.

“These additional extended housing accommodations put us at 126 percent occupancy,”Mohammadi said,”quite a change from almost a decade ago when, in 1993-94, our housing occupancy rate was about 80 percent.”

David Stewart, associate vice president for residential education, said two hotlines have been set up for students and parents with housing questions304-293-4491 and 304-293-4372 ext. 15750.

On the academic side, Associate Provost Russ Dean said approximately 4,000 spaces were added in a variety of core classes to accommodate the influx of students and additional advisors will support the educational needs of students.