ACU has pushed for more incoming freshmen in multiple ways, including the addition of new dorms, but it needs to push for other renovations for upperclassmen.
In the past few years, there have been several renovations on campus with the majority being for freshmen living spaces. There have been two new additions for freshmen living which include Wessel Hall and Bullock Hall. These buildings allow more freshmen to be on this campus as ACU grows each year.
On top of the push for more incoming students, there has also been a push for retention. This retention has grown in recent years, but many students feel that there are areas on campus that could be improved to meet the 85% retention goal. This includes space on campus.
The number of students that are currently enrolled is 6,219 with 4,196 undergraduates. These numbers include both the Abilene campus and ACU Dallas. This enrollment increased the number of students on campus to 3,535. For entering freshmen for both campuses, it has grown over the past few years. These numbers are:
- 2020: 839
- 2021: 872
- 2022: 950
- 2023: 1,021
Popular places where students spend time on campus include the Bean, the Brown Library and McGlothin Campus Center. The increased amount of students has led to these places becoming overcrowded. Because of this, more students are left unhappy, especially upperclassmen. Students around campus have suggested renovating the Bean and the library to ensure that students have places to use.
Upperclassmen have also discussed adding more parking spots because the increased number of freshmen in university dorms has led to fewer spots. With the university choosing to focus on freshman housing, upperclassman is running out of space to live. Some upperclassmen have to live off campus, which makes them worry about finding parking spaces. Right now, students are having a hard time finding space to sit and eat, study, park or even sleep.
“They need to build somewhere else or have more housing for the upperclassman and have more parking, then I think it would work out, but as of right now it is not working out,” said Alicia Caughfield, junior kinesiology major from Rye, Colorado.
Renovations and construction are not as easy as it may seem. There are multiple renovations that are happening around campus that students do not notice. This summer, ACU updated the central plant to provide more reliable and stronger cooling capacity around campus, especially with the added square footage from new facilities. There were also completed renovations in the College of Business Administration and an updated Chick-fil-A in the Hilton Food Court.
“We continue to try to do a lot of things that would impact all of the students,” said Kevin Campbell, senior vice president for operations. “For our returning students, obviously upperclassmen interact with those facilities every day and so we have done a lot to improve their experience.”
There are also more plans to come as the university chooses what needs to be focused on. The administration does this with a university master plan. More information about this plan will be released in the spring semester when the university decides what the next steps are after revisiting the plan this fall. This master plan is updated roughly every five years with a discussion of what needs to be improved on campus.
Even though there are renovations happening, they are not addressing the problem of space. Campus is running out of places to provide for students on campus. ACU should focus on renovating these spaces to have enough room for students to enjoy the facilities and get the full college experience, even if the students have been here for more than a year.
