By Luke Lattanzi | Staff Writer

In the fall, Baylor will have enough space on campus to house the incoming freshman class of 2027 amid dorm renovations and the expiration of the Baylor Cityside contract.

Baylor’s Strategic Enrollment Management Plan said the university intends for the class of 2027 to be within the 3,400 to 3,500 range. This is part of a larger effort by the university to decrease the total undergraduate student population to approximately 14,500 students.

“At this point we have space for everyone we anticipate coming,” Ian Philbrick, associate director for Campus Living and Learning, said. “It’s just a matter of us now beginning to have them apply. The [housing] application opened [March 1].”

Philbrick also said the university is not planning on continuing housing students at Baylor Cityside in the fall of 2023 after it was used this past year to accommodate over 150 students due to lack of on-campus housing space.

“We’re not offering Cityside next year, it’s going to be just our traditional residence halls that we have on campus,” Philbrick said. “We have University Parks Apartments, that’s right across La Salle, and we run that too, but those are the spaces that will run and operate next year.”

In addition to a general influx of students moving to Texas and applying to Baylor within the past three years, some residence halls have been closed due to renovations. Collins Residence Hall, an all-women’s residence hall typically home to over 600 residents, is expected to be fully renovated by the summer of 2023.

Both the Alexander and Memorial Residence Halls, however, are scheduled to undergo renovations spanning from May 2023 to July 2024. The two residence halls make up the Honors Residential College and house 330 honors students.

Residents of the HRC will be relocated to Texana House and University House, two residence halls that form part of the North Village Residential Community, according to Philbrick.

Austin sophomore Nick Scarzella said he believes it is important for freshmen to be able to have housing on campus because of the community it can help foster.

“I think it’s vital for freshmen students to be able to have a space in housing,” Scarzella said. “I think it coincides with being a part of that community, getting placed in a dorm with someone that is also new, so you can explore that together. I think that’s huge.”

Scarzella also said he thinks there are more off-campus living options in Waco than on-campus living options, adding that the university should work to provide more housing options on campus.

“There’s a lot more off-campus living than on-campus, so I think it would be more beneficial to have more on-campus living, not necessarily for just freshmen but for all unique living situations,” Scarzella said.