Saginaw News

Enrollment at Saginaw Valley State University passes 10,000; freshman move-in continues
By The Saginaw News
August 28, 2009, 8:03AM
Chris Fryer | The Saginaw News
Relatives and friends help incoming freshman freshmen move belongings from a line of vehicles during the first of two freshman move-in days at Saginaw Valley State University. The second wave of first-year students was to settle into their dorm rooms today.
When Nick Wagner moved in as a freshman at Saginaw Valley State University nine years ago, he was one of about 950 students living on the Kochville Township-based campus.
Thursday, he drove around in a golf cart aiding in the move-in process of nearly that many freshmen.
"We've come a long way, especially since I've been here," said the 27-year-old Wagner, now the university's assistant director of housing and auxiliary operations. "This is an exciting time because you get to see new faces get away from their families for the first time."
This year, the school's enrollment has surpassed 10,000 for the first time in the institution's 46-year history.
Also a first: the roughly 2,700 students who will live on campus now that the university's latest housing addition, Living Center Southwest, is complete.
This year's batch of freshmen is the university's largest, estimated at nearly 1,600. About 70 percent of those newcomers are living on campus this year, and half of them began moving in Thursday -- the second year the university has had freshmen move in over two days.
"About two years ago, we finally reached that critical mass where we couldn't handle having all the freshmen moving in on one day and have it be a positive experience," said Ronald Portwine, assistant vice president of business services. "And that's a good thing. We try to make it as enjoyable as possible for the parents and the kids."
Portwine and Wagner agree that the university's enrollment and housing capacity is at an ideal number.
"We're at our right number," Wagner said. "Hopefully we can not build for a couple years at least, so we can keep a consistent process going."
University officials have said previously they don't plan to build any more housing.
"This really should be it," Portwine said. "We don't want excess. And we're still making mortgages on our new building. We can't just keep building and building."