Enrollment boom at NCCU

 At N.C.Central University, housing officials are scurrying to find spaces for several hundred more new freshmen than the university originally anticipated.

With applications up a whopping 40 percent this year, officials now expect more than1,500 new students in the freshman class; it originally projected about 1,100 new freshmen.

"There are always problems, but they're manageable," said NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms.
Housing officials expect to squeeze some of those unanticipated students into on-campus rooms. But campus trustees Wednesday also gave the go-ahead to seek bids for off-campus housing.

NCCU is looking for 300 beds somewhere in the community and may end up in a situation similar to that several years ago when it had to relocate hundreds of students due to the discovery of toxic mold in residence halls.

"It could be a hotel," said Jennifer Wilder, NCCU's director of residential life. "If we could find something that fit our needs that is not a hotel, that would be better."

Earlier this year, NCCU dissolved its relationship with Campus Crossing, an off-campus apartment complex it had contracted with in 2005. The deal was a money-loser for NCCU; under the terms of the contract with Campus Crossing, NCCU had to pay the rent on each of 564 units, regardless of whether they were occupied by NCCU students.

Across American higher education, enrollment is booming this year, likely the effect of the weak economy and a desire by people to seek more education and job re-training.
 But Nelms, the NCCU chancellor, credits the enrollment spike on his campus to a more aggressive recruitment strategy that places a new emphasis on in-person interaction with prospective students.

"We have completely restructured our approach to the recruitment of students," he said. "We're becoming more personal and responsive."

Also Wednesday, trustees took a large step towards resolving the long-running problem with Eagle Landing, a privately-owned residence hall just off campus that, when built, was riddled with deficiences. A 2006 state analysis found violations and needed fixes totaling $9 million.

Those deficiencies prevented NCCU from taking ownership of the facility then; but NCCU has now completed all the required improvements and is now entereing into a lease agreement with the NCCU Real Estate Foundation, a private non-profit that bought the building on the university’s behalf and has operated it as a private enterprise.

Once NCCU begins running the dormitory as it does its others, officials expect to reap $200,000 in annual savings through insurance, waste disposal, utilities and other services that were previously outsourced.
“It will be exactly like all our other residence halls,” said Alan Robertson, NCCU’s vice chancellor for finance.