By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green State University’s consecutive years of enrollment increases bring challenges beyond academic offerings. More students mean the need for more housing accommodations, more parking spaces, more food, and more extra-curriculars – all to keep students wanting to return the next year.
“Let’s be honest – those are good problems to have,” Casey Wyman, vice president for finance and administration at BGSU, said Thursday after a meeting of the BGSU Board of Trustees on campus.
During the meeting, Erin Heilmeier, assistant vice president and director of admissions, reported that enrollment numbers are up 4.3% compared to this point last year. Those numbers include 4.6% more undergraduates, 1.3% more graduate students, and 10.2% more new transfers.
“We’re seeing more and more interest,” Heilmeier said. “The momentum continues.”
The only drop in student enrollment is being seen in international students affected by the U.S. immigration policies that make it a challenge for many students from other nations to get VISAs to go to school in the U.S., Heilmeier said.
The university leadership is also aware that the convergence of more students can be a lot for the community to digest. Heilmeier cited a stat that during August, scheduled move-in times average 160 students moving in every hour for four days.
BGSU President Rodney Rogers talked about the university working on housing, parking and dining services to handle the growing enrollment.
“The student experience depends on us managing that growth,” Rogers said.
In the case of housing, that management involves loosening requirements that first and second year students, not commuting from home, must live on campus their freshman and sophomore years.
BGSU’s campus currently has residence hall housing for approximately 6,000 students – and that is full to capacity this fall, Wyman said. So second year students are being rewarded for “good behavior” such as higher GPAs, by being allowed to live off campus.
Giving students earlier notice about housing availability seems to be removing some of the angst that sometimes surrounds the search for housing each fall, Wyman said.
As for dealing with higher demand for on-campus parking, a couple parking lots were expanded recently, adding between 200-250 new parking spots.
Parking is always a “point of feedback” from students, Wyman said. But soon, the university hopes to have technology in place to allow students and staff to locate open parking spaces on their devices, so they don’t have to drive around searching for a spot.
BGSU Police Chief Mike Campbell said the campus currently has about “10,000-ish” parking spaces, and the use of cameras and AI technology should make it easier to find open spots.
As for feeding the increase in students, Wyman said the dining services handled by Chartwells seem to be handling the growing enrollments.
In other business at Thursday’s meeting, the BGSU Board of Trustees approved the launch of a new seven-year fundraising campaign to help shape the future of the university. The campaign is slated to begin next week, on July 1.
The last comprehensive campaign by BGSU was completed in 2020. The six-year space between the campaigns is a long time in today’s higher education institutions, which usually hold campaigns every two years, according to Tina Hennessey, vice president for University Advancement and president and CEO of the BGSU Foundation.
The fundraising goal has not yet been released, but Hennessey noted that the last campaign exceeded its $200 million goal, raising more than $255 million.
Donors are motivated to invest in programs that support students, world class faculty, and amenities like club sports, Hennessey said.
“People want to invest in something that’s winning. And we’re winning,” she said. “We want to capitalize on the momentum.”
The campaign will focus on securing private philanthropic support to continue driving key initiatives and priorities at BGSU, including student scholarships and support services, academic programs, industry partnerships, academic facility and lab improvements, and technology modernization.
The meeting concluded with the board thanking Dr. Patrick Pauken for serving as secretary of the board of trustees since 2008. Pauken, a self-described “governance geek,” will continue teaching at BGSU.
Rogers thanked Pauken for serving as secretary during BGSU’s ninth, 10th and 11th presidents. “You have been the constant,” Rogers said to Pauken.
