UConn’s expected enrollment growth puts stress on students and local community

For the second year in a row, the University of Connecticut received a record-breaking number of first-year admission applications, according to UConn Today. The prospective class of 2029 is the most competitive in UConn’s history, with over 62,000 applicants vying for a spot—increasing by about 4,000 from last year’s high of about 58,000. At the Storrs campus, about 4,500 are expected to enroll, an increase of about 150 students compared to last year which are centered around the nursing and fine arts programs. The total number of undergraduate students on the main campus for fall 2024 enrollment was 20,056, but this new class is expected to bring up that number to 21,075 in the new academic year.  

While university communications may laud this increase in applications and expected enrollment as a sign of UConn’s increasing “reputation for high academic quality, strong value, and a positive student experience,” it is difficult for the Daily Campus Editorial Board to not be skeptical of the ramifications. As far as this body is concerned, these increases are exactly the opposite of what UConn needs to be doing during this time.  

To put these numbers into context, it is important to recognize a few key facts regarding the state of this school at present.  

First, this past winter break UConn quietly took away housing guarantees for upperclassmen. Prior to this, UConn offered up to eight semesters of guaranteed housing, but they now only offer two. This is the second year in a row they attempted to make this decision, only succeeding now because they announced the change during break when students weren’t on campus or checking their emails, limiting their knowledge and ability to argue against these changes. In November 2023, when housing tried lowering the guarantee to six semesters, they faced immense and immediate pushback from the community, which forced them to recant. This year, the subtle change caused additional stress for students during the housing guarantee process, who might not have been aware of its changes. 

Second, the university is facing compounding budget cuts that are limiting our academic offerings. For the past three years, professors and graduate students have warned that the immense budget crisis will lead to fewer course offerings, increased course sizes and decreased research opportunities. To add on to this, Gov. Ned Lamont just announced even more direct budget cuts for UConn for the upcoming 2026-2027 fiscal year. The consequences of these ever-increasing cuts are already being seen at UConn this year; like in the School of Fine Arts, which will be forced to cut teaching positions, concentrations, classes and potentially even some majors in the new school year. 

In the context of next year’s potentially growing class size, this does not reflect well for UConn’s future. 

This university’s ability to house its students is one of the biggest barriers to its size, with current on-campus housing capacity across Storrs already being filled to 103%. It can only accept as many students as it can reasonably accommodate with the resources it has. However, since that guarantee of housing is no longer there, this barrier is gone entirely. The size of incoming freshmen classes can grow unrestricted now because the burden of upperclassmen housing will be transferred onto the surrounding community.  

The yearly median family income of UConn students as of one 2017 Harvard study was $119,700, with 55% of students coming from within the top 20^th percentile of national income. Even without accounting for inflation (which makes it equal to roughly $150,000 as of 2023 money), this is already drastically higher than the median income of the entire state of Connecticut, which was about $88,400 as of 2022, and especially higher than the median family incomes for the towns like Mansfield, Windham or Coventry which directly surround UConn. The placing of students into these towns could cause gentrification. Once landlords realize they now have a growing captive consumer base who need to live close to campus, they will raise prices to drain the bank accounts of students and their parents, pushing out local communities. Plus, for students who do not have the same means, they will be left behind in the midst of rising costs and lacking on-campus options. The start of this process is already beginning to show, with brand new large developments like The Standard at Four Corners and the Celeron Square Apartments marketing directly to only UConn students and charging high entry rent prices.  

Regardless of this issue, the Editorial Board is concerned UConn will continue to grow its student body because of decades of shifting the school’s cost burden onto students and the current need for money. Providing less resources will allow them to bring in more monetary flow from tuition and fees, ultimately in an effort to balance out their stressed budget. It is clear that UConn is failing to find solutions for its issues through maintenance of its current size, instead prioritizing unnecessary growth over institutional sustainability, student wellness and educational quality. By creating more cost-efficient teaching positions, increasing lobbying pressure for state funds or prioritizing the education of its students over other ventures, UConn would show the desire to improve in meaningful ways.  

The consequences of this unrelenting growth will fall on students and towns that ultimately have very little say in these decisions. While it is important to make UConn a viable option for in-state students and increase its presence, it is more important to uphold the quality of life and education for existing and incoming students. UConn cannot do this while simultaneously putting economic stress on the surrounding towns and students by decreasing access to its own resources. UConn students should not have to worry about being pushed off campus and forced into expensive off-campus housing, and Mansfield should not have to shoulder the burden of UConn’s growth.