SMU campus at capacity

By Danielle Larson
Editor in Chief

Record-breaking enrollment numbers put Saint Mary’s University Winona campus at full capacity this fall.
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A total of 404 freshmen enrolled for the 2008-09 school year, making it the second-largest freshman class; the highest enrollment occurred in 1988. Enrollment numbers have been high for three consecutive years, with 399 students enrolling in 2007 and 376 students enrolling in 2006. These numbers put SMU at a maximum this year with a total of 1,413 undergraduates, 1,334 of them being full-time students and 79 being part-time.

“I am thrilled,” exclaimed Vice President for Student Development, Chris Kendall about the admission numbers for the past couple years. “I think we are doing some good things,” he said. This year the goal was to get SMU to capacity, explained Kendall, and he was pleased to exceed it.

All of these record-breaking numbers have left SMU feeling full in the classrooms, hallways and especially dorms. As the number of available dorm rooms ran low, lounges were transtransformed into rooms to accommodate students. “It is not a thing we typically would do,” said Vice President for Admission, Tony Piscitiello. “If I had a chance to put them in regular rooms, I would,” he said. Piscitiello explained that one reason SMU is so full this year is because roughly 80 percent of upperclassmen stayed on campus this year, whereas typically, only around 75 percent stay on campus.

Piscitiello feels the attitude of everyone around campus is what has impacted enrollment the most. The attitude on campus is all about “moving forward,” which he translates into happy co-workers and students. Students who attend SMU are the school’s ambassadors, according to Piscitiello; if they enjoy it here, they are going to tell their friends and relatives, who then in turn might take interest in the school.

As for what SMU plans on doing about high enrollment numbers, ideas are still up in the air. “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” said Kendall. The university first needs to look toward the future at the number of high school graduating seniors. If high school classes continue to be large, SMU may consider making expansions on campus to accommodate larger classes in the future; however, if high school graduating class sizes show decline, the school would have no need for such expansions.

Kendall stated that as for now, “we are right at capacity, which is where we want to be."