Morgan State's enrollment surge cause need for students in hotels
As enrollment surges at some historically Black colleges and universities, Morgan State University has hit over 9,000 students for the fall semester for the second time in the university’s history.
But the campus can house only 2,571.
To address the shortfall, the university is partnering with a hotel in Baltimore that will provide 350 extra beds for new and returning students.
“Our goal is to not use a hotel because we really want to make sure that particularly our first-year students are on the campus. But we need to have swing space in the event that we need it for students that can’t find adequate housing in the area,” said Kevin Banks, vice president for student affairs at Morgan State.
The hotel spots will go to students who applied through the school’s housing portal before June. More than 4,000 submissions have already been received.
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Housing selection is on a first-come, first-served basis, and the wait list is already 600 people long.
Many educational institutions have turned to unconventional solutions, such as accommodating students in hotels or alternative settings when faced with enrollment figures surpassing their housing capacity.
The housing deficit at HBCUs stems from inadequate lodgings for the increasing student enrollment and outdated living conditions present on certain campuses.
NBC reported last year that Fisk University in Nashville planned to repurpose shipping containers into dormitory accommodations for 100 new micro-apartments and complete the project before the start of the fall semester.
Morgan State, too, has previously housed students at hotels in 2018 due to dormitory renovations. In addition, it put up more than 400 students off-campus last year in hotels due to dormitory renovations.
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Students in Morgan State-assigned hotel housing will have access to a student lounge, an eatery and a shuttle system to the campus, which is approximately 20 minutes away from the hotel.
“We still had an influx of students that were looking to have a campus experience. It made sense for us to go back to the hotel so that we can satisfy the demand for those additional students that want to come to the university,” Banks said.
The university’s ongoing housing renovations are expected to create more than 600 beds for students starting in fall 2024, which means the university could then house 45 to 50 percent of its campus population. While the university hopes to avoid using hotels next year, this decision has not been finalized.
The university is discussing with developers the possibility of creating apartment complexes in the area to address the demand for upperclassmen housing.
“We had no choice until we finished building our inventory of beds on campus,” Banks said. “We want to be in a situation where housing isn’t going to be extremely limited.”
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