By: Andrew Altman
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — The number of out-of-state students at the University of Arkansas has continued to increase over the years. This fall, only 46% of students are from the state of Arkansas. This is even though the number of Arkansans attending the U of A is the highest that it has been in nearly a decade.
Students from all over the country have continued to choose the University of Arkansas as their place to call home for the next four years. This holds to be true for students from the state of Texas as 8,335 students are currently enrolled at the U of A. This is behind only Arkansas, with nearly 27% of the student body from Texas.
“I chose the University of Arkansas because it wasn’t too close to home, but it also wasn’t too far,” Rozenblum said.
Jordan Rozenblum is a senior from Dallas, Texas, and in addition to the ideal distance from his hometown, he said that the U of A had everything that he was looking for in a college.
“They had the major that I was interested in, Arkansas is a beautiful state, and I knew people who were coming here from my high school. The non-resident scholarship that I got also played a big role in my decision to come here,” Rozenblum said.
The scholarship that he is referring to is the Non-Resident Tuition Award Scholarship which is awarded to students who apply from surrounding states. The award grants students with a high school GPA over 3.20, up to 70% off the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition.
Texas isn’t the only state that has seen an increase in students choosing to attend the University of Arkansas. The number of students from Missouri is the highest that it has been in over a decade. Over 1,800 students from Missouri attended Arkansas this semester and that number has continued to grow each year.
Abby Malone, a junior from St. Louis, Missouri said she chose Arkansas for several different reasons.
“When I toured here, it felt like home. I loved how beautiful the campus was and I liked hearing about all the opportunities that the university provides for its students. I’m also a big sports fan, so I liked how Arkansas was an SEC school,” Malone said.
ISSUES FACING STUDENTS AS ENROLLMENT NUMBERS RISE
The University of Arkansas has reported record enrollment numbers for a second consecutive year, with an enrollment total of 30,936 students this fall. This is an 8.3% increase from last spring.
The number of freshmen on campus has increased by over 17% since last year with a little over 7,000 degree-seeking freshmen attending the U of A this fall.
“University of Arkansas enrollment is booming,” interim Chancellor Charles Robinson said in a university-wide email that he sent out at the beginning of the semester. “I am most proud of the record numbers of Arkansans in the freshman class and in overall enrollment. This continued growth underscores that the U of A is a destination institution attracting students both in Arkansas and from across the country.”
However, the increasing number of students attending the U of A has caused an uptick in the amount of traffic on campus. This has become an issue for students who live off-campus and are forced to commute to class every day.
“I live at the Cottages, and I used to be able to leave about 15 or 20 minutes before class and find a parking spot in Harmon and be in class with time to spare. Now I leave like 30-ish minutes before because it is so hard to find a parking spot in Harmon, especially when most people have classes at the same time,” Arlen said.
Ashton Arlen, a junior living off campus, has experienced a tougher time than usual being on time to classes and said there are measures the university should be taking to improve this.
“The university should build more parking spaces around campus whether that is putting in meter blocks or adding more room in the parking garages. They could also add a new parking garage,” Arlen said.
The university also ran out of on-campus housing for freshmen this year. Many incoming freshmen were forced to stay off campus at apartments, rather than in a dorm on campus. These students still signed a housing agreement with the university and were assigned residential advisors as a way to give students the traditional freshman experience.
Even with this overflow of freshmen, there has been no plan from the university to build another dorm or add on to an existing residential hall to accommodate more incoming students.
Campus buses overcrowding has been another issue that students have been dealing with all semester. Erica Spihlman, a junior who rides the bus to campus every day said that it has been a nightmare.
“I honestly thought that riding the bus to campus would be easier than trying to drive there but now I am not so sure. There have been several days where I have been late to class because the bus either arrives late, or it is too full for me to get on,” Sphilman said.
Another problem that students are facing due to the increase in enrollment has been the wait to get food on campus. Arkansas sophomore Bentlee Robinson said that the lines have been too long the whole semester.
“When I try to go get food in-between classes, most of the time the line to get into the dining hall is so long that there have been a few times where I just decided that it wasn’t worth even trying to get in,” Robinson said.
With the spring semester approaching, students now turn to the University for solutions that address these issues.