Megan Reed, Campus Carrier Editor-in-Chief

Five hundred seventy-three freshmen began classes last week, a number slightly below average compared to freshman classes of recent years.

The size of the class of 2018 is about six percent below the average freshman class size for the past five years, according to Gary Waters, vice president of enrollment management. Waters said this was the college’s intention.

“Last year being a record freshman class with enrollment hitting an all-time high, we had to scale back… for this year’s incoming class,” he said. “By design, even though [the class] is smaller, it was intended to optimize the total student enrollment.”

Waters said colleges often experience “bumper years” such as last year, when enrollment increases.

“Any given year, there will be fluctuations in the number of applications and students who enroll,” he said. “Between football and perhaps some forces that are more random, we had a great year.”

Ryder McEntyre, Graphics Editor

Berry’s football team played its inaugural season last year, and Waters said it has possibly been a factor in increased male enrollment.

This year’s freshman class is 41 percent male, compared to 45 percent last year. The freshman class was slightly above 30 percent male in 2012, according to 2013 data from Berry’s institutional research department.

Waters said the college is aiming to keep enrollment numbers constant at about 2,100 students and has no plans to significantly increase enrollment.

Residence Life is also planning ahead for future freshman classes, and assistant dean of students for residence life Lindsey Taylor said housing has not been as much of an issue this year as in previous years.

“We’ve got a couple of guys living in some temporary spaces, but nothing even remotely comparable to last year,” she said. “We’ve got some guys in study rooms in Dana… and then we have two main campus males living in Pilgrim right now.”

At the beginning of the fall 2013 semester, seven male students who were not in the WinShape scholarship program were living in Pilgrim Hall on mountain campus.

Taylor said Residence Life looks at projections for the freshman class every spring and plans accordingly to decide which residential areas will be designated for each gender. A surprisingly high number of male students, she said, led them to reconsider gender designations for some areas.

“Every year in spring, going into room selection, we do a gender breakdown and designation of gender spaces, and so we had more female spaces … than what actually showed up,” she said.

Separating room selection sessions by gender in the spring also helped Residence Life evaluate needs based on gender, she said.

Now that freshmen have arrived on campus and begun classes, dean of students Debbie Heida said she is looking forward to what the class of 2018 will accomplish at Berry.

“This place has amazing opportunities, and if you don’t take advantage of them, you’re not making the most of both your time and your financial resources to be here,” she said. “Those four years go by quickly.”