Busy-ness of campus
In this Issue: how the spring semester feels different than the fall semester
A parent had asked me to talk about the size of the student body and how it feels like campus is very busy right now, so I want to talk about that today.
By way of background, in August 2025, we had announced that we were looking at some manageable, strategic enrollment growth. That translated to adding 50 new first-year students in Fall 2025 vs. Fall 2024 (not 200 new students, as one family told me they heard; it was only 50).
But if your students are telling you campus feels more crowded this spring than it was in the fall, they are not wrong. That has less to do with those 50 extra students enrolled than it has to do with when our students choose to go abroad: there were 777 students who went abroad in Fall 2025 and only 88 went abroad in Spring 2026. So we had nearly 700 students come back to our community this spring who were not here last fall.
That is not a new phenomenon: our study abroad numbers have historically been quite high, and we are proud of that: international experience adds exponentially to a student’s education.
Student culture has long been that there is a preference to go abroad in the fall. I suspect the rationale for that could be: 1) students want to have a large group of friends go with them to the same abroad program, 2) students want to be able to visit friends in other cities/countries on the weekends, and/or 3) students want their friend group (in different programs) to converge for a major cultural event like Oktoberfest.
We counsel students in various ways (via required study abroad meetings, in the study abroad and housing agreements, etc.) as well as families (via the Daily Deac) that if students go abroad in the fall, they must accept the fact that they may have limited housing choices upon their return.
Practical tips for students
So knowing that the Spring semester is typically more crowded than the Fall semester was, what are some practical tips for students in navigating campus?
Wellbeing Center and Library use
One of the ways that students can plan their activities is by using the Waitz app. It shows students real-time usage of our Wellbeing Center and the ZSR Library. Students can also see peak hours for both of those facilities. This allows them to plan their visits at non-peak times of the day if they wish.
With the weather being warmer, students also don’t have to use the treadmills and cardio equipment in the Wellbeing Center. They have the option to do their cardio outdoors: whether that is walking/running around campus (or the neighborhoods of Faculty Drive just behind campus), taking the trail behind Winston Hall over to Reynolda Village and Reynolda Gardens, or using one of the many trails mapped out by Campus Rec.
Parking
I teach class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30-1:45: a prime time for classes. And yes, I do have the ability to park in faculty/staff spaces (whereas your students do not). But I don’t always get a faculty/staff spot in the parking lot closest to where I teach, and there has only been one time all semester when I could not find an open student parking space and had to park a lot farther away from my building.
Much of parking is about strategy for when you arrive. I have never had issues with parking if I arrive early in the day, so students may decide to come to campus earlier and study/workout/do other things until classes. I also find that if I allow extra time to drive to campus (say 30-40 minutes before my class vs. 15 mins), it is a lot easier for me to find a space, or circle til I get one.
Dining
I have heard students talking about it being crowded in the Pit or Benson. And depending on what time you go, that can absolutely be true. There are 17 different places on campus where students can get food and drink, so it may be helpful for students to try different locations (or go at different times) to see if that works better with their schedule. Also, given the fact that we are in good weather now, students can get food to go and enjoy it outside at the many picnic tables, tents, and groupings of chairs near the Pit or Benson, etc.
Hope that provides some perspective and also some strategy for students who might be looking for ways to navigate campus this spring.