Schools’ campus housing empties

Dorm occupants dip to 184 at UA

Less than 4% of students living earlier this semester in University of Arkansas, Fayetteville housing will stay on campus to finish the term.

Other public universities also have described big declines in their on-campus population, though they report a greater percentage of students continuing to live on campus.

Last week four of the state’s largest universities closed their residence halls in response to the coronavirus pandemic — with exceptions for those in need — though so far none have announced any covid-19 cases among their on-campus students.

UA-Fayetteville, the state’s largest university, closed its residence halls on Friday.

Arkansas State University and Arkansas Tech University also closed their residence halls on Friday, while the University of Central Arkansas did so on March 29.

On the UA-Fayetteville campus, a total of 184 students are set to remain in university-operated housing through the spring semester, said university spokesman Christopher Spencer. The last spring finals are set for May 7, according to UA’s academic calendar.

The total students remaining are about 4% of the approximately 4,950 students living in UA-operated housing earlier this semester.

“We did not deny any requests to remain on campus,” Spencer said in an email.

Spencer said that “generally students were granted approval because they were either international

students, students with older family members at home or students who did not have internet access at home.” He said there are also

Other UA-Fayetteville students live in non-UA operated Greek housing, which also closed Friday.

Scott Flanagin, a UA spokesman, said that out of 1,081 students living in fraternity and sorority houses earlier this semester, “there are currently 9 living [in] non-university managed Greek houses.” Additionally, another 11 students in UA-managed fraternity houses “remain officially checked in,” Flanagin said.

UA-Fayetteville suspended in-person classes on March 12, just over a week before the start of its spring break, which ran from March 23-27. Like other colleges, UA-Fayetteville has shifted to online-only instruction. Students still living on campus before spring break told the Democrat-Gazette that most of their classmates had left the residence halls.

The numbers of students leaving because of dorm closures likely will hit school finances.

Most schools moving to close dorms have said they will provide some sort of pro-rated reimbursement — including credits for future campus housing costs — to students that have moved out, though UA-Fayetteville has not made such an announcement.

Spencer said UA-Fayetteville is “awaiting a decision by the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees and will communicate to students and families as soon as we receive information.”

In Jonesboro, Arkansas State University has 559 students remaining in on-campus residence halls after they closed Friday, spokesman Bill Smith said Monday.

They will stay through the spring semester “barring unforeseen changes,” Smith said. Earlier this semester, ASU had 2,909 students living on campus, Smith has said.

Smith said Monday a covid-19 test was negative for a student living on campus. Last Friday, ASU said the student was in isolation while awaiting the test result.

In addition to the residence hall population, Smith said there are also 209 students in graduate and non-traditional student housing, which includes some apartment-style residences.

The University of Central Arkansas as of Friday had 428 students living in its housing after closing its residence halls March 29, spokeswoman Amanda Hoelzeman said.

She said close to 15 students received approval to stay after the residence hall closures but last week decided to move out.

At the end of January, UCA had 3,164 students in campus housing, she said.

Of those remaining, 266 students are in campus apartments and 162 are in residence halls or the campus’ Greek Village housing for fraternities and sororities, Hoelzeman said.

Arkansas Tech University has granted requests from 318 students to stay on campus through the spring term, said university spokesman Sam Strasner.

“The most common reason for making the request was lack of internet access if displaced from university housing,” Strasner said. Based on information gathered from students, “that reason drew 152 responses,” Strasner said.

“Second-most was work responsibilities in the surrounding community,” with 45 students citing work as a reason to stay on campus, Strasner said.

The Russellville campus earlier this semester had 2,152 students in campus housing, according to documents presented to the school’s board of trustees. The university has also said that “regular occupancy” is about 2,700 students.

Not all public universities have closed residence halls. Housing remains open at Henderson State University but with a greatly reduced population, said spokeswoman Tina Hall.

“We have about 200 students who continue to live in residence halls or apartments on campus,” Hall said Friday in an email. “These are students who may not be able to travel home at this time or who may not have internet access to continue classes if they leave campus.”

Hall said the Arkadelphia campus had 1,492 students living on campus before switching to remote instruction on March 13.

Among private universities, the state’s largest, including Harding and John Brown, have closed their housing to most students.