UH has grown from humble beginnings to a national powerhouse. Over the past year, student enrollment has risen from 40,914 to approximately 42,738 students.
Jeff Fuller, director of student recruitment said he attributes the increase in student population to the strengthened culture of the university, as well as more on-campus activities.
“The office of admissions spearheaded efforts to connect with admitted students and their families about the strength in UH’s academic and student success initiatives while demonstrating the benefits of student engagement at the same time,” Fuller said.
Fuller said the increase in students originated from several campus programs in the city of Houston and abroad.
“Increased student enrollment demonstrates that students choosing UH feel proud of their decision,” Fuller said. “They will become advocates for others to choose UH, which is becoming a more attractive college that students select that will lead them to both their professional and personal goals.”
While Fuller believes there are no downsides to an increase in population, some students are noticing complications of a developing campus.
Biology sophomore Omar Abdelaziz said that maneuvering campus has become an acquired skill.
“One thing I have noticed is traffic, which has gotten much worse,” Abdelaziz said. “The roads and parking lots are more crowded than last year’s.”
Chemistry junior Andrew Nguyen shares Abdelaziz’s concern for parking and traffic at the university.
“The school population is now 42,000, yet the parking lots haven’t changed and are becoming more and more inadequate,” Nguyen said. “I think that the school can afford to pay for a concrete parking lot.”
Aside from parking, increased numbers could mean that locations such as the library and the Student Center get more foot traffic, as well as classes in general.
“Inside some of my classes, there are more people than seats and that’s an issue,” Abdelaziz said. “I think that both lecture halls aren’t adequate as conductive learning environments.”
Despite the spike in admissions, some students still question the direction the university has taken. Abdelaziz challenges the university’s decision to focus more money on athletics during a time of growth.
“We (moved) into Tier One status,” Abdelaziz said. “Yet we just shifted money from academics to athletics. Which one are we trying to promote?”
With all due respect NO monies have been shifted from athletics to academics. The improvements you see in athletics are a direct result from great fund raising efforts with in the athletics department. It is not an either or situation and have you noticed the explosion in academic facilities as well? The entire campus is busting at the seams and improving everywhere. You still will not find a campus in the nation with near our enrollment or more with such convenient places to park or live within proximity of your classes. You should also keep in mind about what an incredible service the athletics does for the University as a whole. The better the football and basketball teams do the more prestige they bring to the university and applications will increase 10% after this season.
Millions per year flow from academics to athletics – UH subsidizes athletics to the tune of $20M/year. See NCAA finances Link: sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances/
Why do so many students still drive to campus when there are many great options on or near campus? It makes no sense.
You must work for Cullen Oaks because no one in their right mind set should spend almost a grand a month on the crappy places around UH.
Because not all of us can afford to live there. We have jobs or families to take care of. Sometimes some of us barely make ends meet semester by semester. And loans are one option that we do not want to take. Who really wants to keep paying loan 5 to 20 years after you graduate. If you do be my guess
Sorry, Luis. I understand what you are saying. Although, for freshman coming out of high school without any of the other issues you mention it still doesn’t make sense. The cost of gas, insurance, wear-and-tear, parking, let alone lost time in traffic and walking across campus, all make living on campus affordable.
By commuting I actually save alot. I have lived on campus because if you live on campus you have to pay housing which is rising every year, a meal plan at least till you are a junior, and what ever little thing you might want to buy. For comuting gas is actually alot cheaper than it was before and then of course insurance varies. So really the price is how much you really don’t want to drive to school
It’s long been time to stop talking enrollment numbers, start talking admissions standards.
It seems like UH is doing both, at least from my perspective.
General admission requirements are still very lax, but certain majors (i.e. architecture, engineering, entrepreneurship) are tightening their criteria.
This is making it increasingly difficult for transfer students (the bulk of students at UH) to come in under these majors. However, even with tighter admissions standards it’s unreasonable to not expect growth in enrollment.
I think the thing that UH is really contending with at the moment is the inability to develop and stay ahead of increasing student influx. Every year there is a construction project that is supposed to relieve these growing pains, but university planning only seems to be able to see what is currently on the plate in terms of development. Someone sees that we need more parking and classrooms to accommodate the current student body and act accordingly without realizing that next year the student body will have already outgrown what was just implemented. You see this with parking despite two relatively new garages, you see it with buildings like the CBB that have basically become overflow for majors who can’t fit students in their colleges anymore.
That doesn’t mean we should stop letting people come to our university, rather we should be trying to stay ahead of the curve in terms of development instead of always trying to accommodate for what we lack.