A fourth of BSU dorm beds sat empty last year
Ball State silent on housing situation as many schools across the country face housing shortages
MUNCIE — The occupancy rate at Ball State University residence halls last school year dropped to 76% — apparently a reflection of the school’s lowest on-campus enrollment this century.
Here are the occupancy rates going back to the year before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic:
(2021-22) — 6,501 capacity, 76% occupied
(2020-21) — 6,118 capacity, 93% occupied
(2019-20) — 6,670 capacity, 92% occupied
(2018-19) — 6,646 capacity, 94% occupied
Ball State’s on-campus enrollment in 2021-22 fell below 14,000 — thanks to the pandemic, increased competition from Indiana and Purdue universities for fewer and fewer college-bound Hoosier high schoolers, and other factors.
Presumably, those circumstances were responsible for the lower residence hall census, though I was unable to get much in the way of answers from the school after asking why the drop-off occurred and whether BSU expects a return to normal housing this year.
“It is too early for us to know our final residence hall occupancy numbers for the upcoming 2022-23 academic year,” BSU spokesman Greg Fallon told me on Aug. 5, less than two weeks before the start of move-in days (Aug. 17-18).
I obtained the past residence hall capacity and occupancy figures from BSU’s Office of General Counsel pursuant to an Access to Public Records Act request. Those stats indicate 24%, or 1,560, idle beds last school year (4,941 occupied, 1,560 empty based on capacity of 6,501).
Ball State will begin housing Ivy Tech Community College students in Studebaker East Residence Hall this fall, but the number of students will be negligible.
The new, cleverly named NEST initiative (BSU’s slogan is “We Fly”) is a “dual-enrollment program in which select high school students who have applied to Ball State, but have not yet been accepted, will enroll at Ivy Tech in Muncie and live in Ball State residence halls,” the two schools reported in a news release in May.
NEST is an acronym for “Navigating the Enrolled Student Transition.”
NEST students are high school graduates who find themselves on a waitlist to get into Ball State. The students will live on campus while taking one class at BSU and at least 12 credit hours at Ivy Tech.
“We were hoping for 30 for our fall kick-off of this program, but had 15 inquire and we have nine currently enrolled and working the program,” Amy M. Ward, vice chancellor of student success at Ivy Tech-Muncie, told me. “Our hope is to grow this program to 50 students by next fall, as this is an academic year-long program. These students will earn their technical certificate in Indiana Core and then be ready to transfer to Ball State by the fall of 2023.”
Studebaker East is the only year-round residence hall at Ball State.
Ball State has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the recent past on campus improvements, including green residence halls and academic buildings, recreation facilities, geothermal energy to replace coal power, athletic facilities, open space, a multicultural center, pedestrian and bicycle routes, parking structures, performance/event venues and a botanical garden-like campus accredited as an aboretum.
More students will be enjoying the campus this fall if Ball State follows higher education’s enrollment and housing trends across the country.
The independent journalism organization Inside Higher Education recently reported:
“Students are scrambling to find housing as the fall semester rapidly approaches, with many colleges managing lengthy waitlists and frustrations from would-be residents desperate for a bed on campus. At some institutions, housing waitlists are a positive sign for both booming enrollment and student preferences.
“But even as they deal with such welcome developments, institutions still have to figure out where to place students for the coming academic year. While some universities are turning to familiar strategies — such as placing students in nearby hotels — others are deploying new tools to incentivize students, and even alumni, to help ease high housing demands.”
Similarly, below a story headlined, “Why This Fall’s Campus Housing Shortages Could Be Different,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, another independent news organization, reported:
“Colleges across the nation are facing housing shortages and increased demand, leaving hundreds of students waiting for assignments or scrambling to find off-campus options as the fall semester quickly approaches.”
However, the article, which cited “post-pandemic, pent-up demand” and a national housing crisis that is driving up rent off campus, concluded that small private colleges “that serve a regional audience” and “some of the smaller regional publics, those institutions are not fully enrolled for the fall so far and I think will have vacancies.”
In April, BSU President Geoffrey S. Mearns told Indiana Public Radio that he was “cautiously optimistic” that his school would see a “healthy increase in new, undergraduate freshman enrollment.” He was even “a bit hopeful” that the new class will exceed the target of 3,500 students.
Last year’s freshman class numbered 3,287 compared to 4,060 in 2019.
Mearns also anticipated “a nice rebound” this fall in new on-campus graduate enrollment as well as rebounds in new international undergraduate/graduate enrollment, but he expressed concern about undergraduate retention as the pandemic continues to take a toll on students’ mental health and finances.
BSU stopped publicly reporting its on-campus attendance figures several years ago — as its online enrollment began rising —but will still provide it on request.
Here are the on-campus numbers for the past five years (see a chart below for the years 1999-present):
2017 — 16,825
2018 — 16,166
2019 — 15,969
2020 — 14,109
2021 — 13,962
For the second consecutive year, Ball State this year decided not to increase room, board, or parking fees for students.
The schools says its “prudent fiscal management and sustained low tuition increases have secured the university’s position as the most affordable institution in the Mid-American Conference.”
In addition to improvements that have kept campus looking like a revolving construction zone year after year, BSU has announced plans to lead a long-term, phased revitalization plan for The Village retail/residential district bordering campus.
The comprehensive plan includes a performing arts center intended to serve as the “catalytic anchor for the commercial district, and the university’s investment in the center will leverage approximately $100 million in private investment,” the school has reported. “Once this ambitious project is completed, the Village will provide a best-in-class, multigenerational district driven by arts and culture, entertainment, and innovation with new options in dining, retail, service, hospitality, living, and gathering.”
Ball State several years ago agreed to take over governance of the distressed Muncie Community Schools system.
Here are the on-campus enrollment statistics for Ball State since the turn of the century. On-campus enrollment means taking at least one class on campus:
1999 — 17,459
2000 — 17,490
2001 — 17,662
2002 — 18,059
2003 — 18,310
2004 — 18,043
2005 — 17,728
2006 — 17,285
2007 — 16,828
2008 — 16,901
2009 — 17,627
2010 — 18,183
2011 — 18,241
2012 — 17,851
2014 — 17,005
2015 — 16,602
2016 — 16,808
2017 — 16,825
2018 — 16,166
2019 — 15,969
2020 — 14,109
2021 — 13,962
Previously, in Greater Muncie:
Thanks for the reporting and keeping us up to date with things in Muncie!