Student growth means golden opportunities for AASU

People have been talking about it. They see it when they park their cars, when they walk the halls and when they wait in line. We all talk about it – AASU is crowded.

The student populace is enormous, and, chances are, if someone throws a rock into a crowd, it will probably bean a freshman. The school boasts on its website that this year it has its largest freshman class ever.

Freshman classes are typically large by comparison. As students move forward in college, some fall by the wayside or drop out. Naturally, this means that the freshman class is usually larger than the sophomore class, which is larger than the junior class and so forth. Once the measurements reach the graduate students, there are only a handful of them left.

It is also worth noting that many institutions in Georgia's university system don't have enrollment caps. Before fingers get pointed at the administration for overburdening the school, people need to remember that this is a public university. If a person applies and meets our criteria, that student gets into AASU. Affordable, available education is the nature of a public university system.

Before people start complaining that there are too many freshmen, or that all the freshmen tax the school's resources or that one of them stole my pudding cup in the cafeteria the other day, consider the positive aspects of this student influx.

The university system often measures its institutions by the number of people who attend them. An increase in student population could net AASU some extra attention from the Board of Regents. AASU's growth could signal an increase in future services that are sent our way.

Anne Thompson, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, was kind enough to provide The Inkwell with this year's admission numbers.

By the numbers, AASU accepted 4,067 incoming applications out of a total of 6,766. Add to that the students who were here last year and weed out the students who have left, and AASU still has more students than it did last year.

Last year, those numbers were smaller. AASU received only 5,814 applications and accepted only 3,833 students. Percentage-wise, that's 65 percent over this year's 60 percent.

It's worth noting, then, that a good deal of the talk about the increase in student population is just that – it's all talk. In comparison to the numbers from the year before, that difference might not seem like much, but it is an infusion of fresh blood.

Of course, looking at last year's numbers, anyone can realize that the student population of was higher than before then, too. This doesn't mean AASU is being swamped with new students – it means AASU is experiencing actual growth that spans several years.

Some of those students will drop, and some will be dropped. These numbers are AASU's maximum number of incoming students, but they are likely to go down after attendance is verified.

The staff credits AASU's participation in Georgia 411, an online registration program, with bringing the enrollment up. Last year's fall enrollment was 7,538 students. It's likely that this number is going to jump for this semester, even after attendance verification shunts out a few.

That's a whole lot of students. It may look like AASU is being squeezed dry, but the university is actually functioning well within its capacity. Follow us on this.

The staff of the new lunchroom, The Galley, claimed, in a passing conversation while a small group of students were fumbling with their wallets, that the facility has a capacity of an eerily precise 331 students.

Let's assume most people take half an hour to eat. Some will take less time, while some students are bound to creep in while it's packed. That considered, the cafeteria can probably host 700 students an hour. If lunchtime spans across three hours, you get 2,100 students.

If we estimate that the student population is probably going to be just under 8,000 students this year, that is still more than a quarter of the students that can use this facility for lunch. Considering that not all students will use the facility as they have classes, live on campus, only have classes in the mornings or evenings, or have another way of procuring food, and 2,100 is still a fairly large number.

If the new dorms at Windward Commons have a capacity of 500 students, then there isn't really an issue for the housing. In passing, some students talk about the freshmen spilling over into the older housing, but there are certainly enough places to put everyone.

Finding spots to shove everyone is important, because the university is growing solidly. This increase is a solid foundation for our future as an institution. If there is a time for us to start new student organizations and clubs or join intercollegiate conferences, that time is now. It's typically easier to form extra-curricular organizations while a population is active – if the growth stagnates, it will be harder to rouse interest.

Overall, this is a golden opportunity for AASU. Between the new student center, Windward Commons and the hustle-and-bustle of an increased student population, the powers-that-be at AASU are trying to transform this university. If the students decide to ride this tide rather than complain about it, AASU will keep changing for the better far into the future.