4,900 new students put pressure on university
This year’s record number of first-year students — about 4,900 — has posed a few challenges for some university departments.
This year’s class has about 300 more students than last year’s, said Mary Wagner, senior director of undergraduate admissions. The actual size of the Class of 2017 won’t be known until after the add-drop period ends in about two weeks.
With a group this large, work had to be done to make room, Wagner said, like adding sections to popular classes, including University 101.
Departments like University Housing, which guarantees a spot for every incoming student, experience more struggles accommodating the class size than others, Wagner said.
“The housing office has been gracious, and every freshman has housing,” Wagner said.
Housing officials did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Campus construction work, including a project to make Assembly Street safer for pedestrians and to renovate the aging Women’s Quadrangle, are also putting pressure on first-year students and campus offices.
“It does put some stress on other offices on campus,” Wagner said. “One thing that we didn’t anticipate moving in is that the Women’s Quad is offline for renovation, and those are spaces that usually go to freshman woman.”
Though there are some difficulties with the class size, Wagner said the large number is a positive for USC.
“From a number standpoint it always looks good when you’re able to deliver a class that is larger than you expected,” Wagner said.