The 2002-2003 academic year began frustratingly enough for several freshmen and staff members, as the class of 2006 overwhelmed Loyola’s housing resources.

According to an Aug. 19 university news release, the newest class is not only the smartest in the school’s history, it is also the biggest – 903 students. That’s a 4 percent increase over last year’s record-sized class. The influx of students has strained the residence halls so much that six students didn’t have a room in which to live, and had to double up with their resident assistants.

So why has the university accepted more freshmen than can be housed?The answer is a complicated one.

Debbie Stieffel, dean of admissions, says that there is no way of knowing how many freshmen will attend in the fall.

Students are accepted at Loyola based upon GPA, extra-curricular activities and test scores. “We meet with Residential Life around six times before a class comes to Loyola. …The communication between (Residential Life and Admissions) is very important,” says Stieffel.

But even if a student signs a housing contract and intent to enroll, he may decide to attend another university at the eleventh hour. In fact, it is common for a university to accept more students than it has places for, to allow for students who will eventually transfer or simply change their minds.

The Admissions Office and Residential Life work together to decide how many students to accept for the coming year – usually around 850. This decision is based on the likelihood of a student attending once accepted, which is decided by looking at financial aid and individual feedback.

In the past several years, the admissions process at the university has changed significantly. Five years ago, Loyola was a much more regional school and welcomed most of its students from the New Orleans metropolitan area and the rest of the state. Population growth in Louisiana was minimal, however, and was projected to fall. To maintain numbers, the Admissions Office was forced to begin recruiting from outsidethe region.

“We had to go national,” said Stieffel, who reports that about 60 percent to 70 percent of new students are from outside New Orleans.

“Since 1996, we have doubled our application pool, and Loyola has gone from admitting 90 percent of applicants to 68 percent.”

News like this is important to the growth and prestige of the university and means a higher quality of student; but it also means more out-of-town freshmen have to stay in dorm housing. Stieffel said that two or three years ago there were five hundred students living in the residence halls. Like many universities, Loyola requires freshmen to live on campus. It is this rule that has caused some cramped quarters in Biever Hall and limited the number of upperclassmen who can remain on campus. Robert Reed, director of Residential Life, says that out-of-town freshmen are required to live on campus so that they can be closer to university resources such as Student Health and University Police, and because there is no way the uptown area could accommodate so many students with affordable, safe housing. “I think it’s critical. …A lot of schools have that rule,” Reed said.

But with so many freshmen away from parents for the first time and unused to the laxity of New Orleans drinking laws, will incidents of crime within the university go up?

“I really doubt that,” said Jim Eiseman, director of Student Affairs, who said he has seen no significant increase in vandalism, fighting or drinking problems since the student increases began several years ago.

With an increase in students has come an increase in staff, from the Orleans Room to Student Health. There will be more students this year, and, assures Eiseman, “We’re ready for it.”Loyola is definitely getting bigger, which causes minor housing crunches, but some say it is getting better. Average test scores and GPAs are higher, and the character of the incoming classes is increasingly diverse.

And those six students who had to live with their RAs? They’ve all been ensconced in a regular dorm room after several freshmen failed to enroll.

Says Reed; “It always seems to work out.”