UConn Avery Point Students to Occupy Mitchell’s Dorm Rooms?

Mitchell College and the University of Connecticut's (UConn) Avery Point campus are planning to sign agreement that would allow UConn students to occupy vacant Mitchell College dorms. This step would make it the latest effort of the latter to raise revenue and cut costs.

With fewer enrollments and more students shifting to homes off-campus too many on-campus dorm rooms have been left unoccupied. Moreover, UConn Avery Point does not have dormitories. Around 100 students live in apartments near the campus and some of them stay with their families nearby.

Michael Alfultis, the campus director, said that parents prefer their children living in a dorm, rather than an apartment. Alfultis expressed that the absence of 'on-campus dorm rooms' might be one of the reasons that may have prevented students from thinking about UConn Avery Point.

"We're the only campus in the state that offers marine science and maritime studies. This gives us the potential to offer to students outside our commuting radius the ability to come and take advantage of our high-caliber program and still be in a supervised, residential environment," Alfultis said.

However, the talks are yet to be finalized.

According to Alfultis, the memorandum of association (MoU) between the schools should be negotiated and signed soon as the students enrolled for the fall session at UConn Avery Point campus have already begun approaching apartment dealers. If the deal is signed, about 22 students will be staying in Mitchell's dorms initially. The number is expected to increase up to 80 in the future.

This is a latest attempt of Mitchell to reduce costs and increase revenue. Last spring, the college laid off about half of the two dozen specialists in the academic support program for students with learning disabilities and in October, seven professors which represent 20 percent of the full-time faculty were informed that they would lose their jobs at the end of the semester.

"There is a sea change in higher education, and any college or university needs to be positioned with the mantra that change is inevitable and that we can't do the work we used to do, the way we used to do it," Mary Ellen Jukoski, president of Mitchell College said. "As an organization, we constantly need to be asking the questions, 'How can we do it better, how can we do it more effectively, how can we do it at less cost?' because I think that nothing remains the same."

Jukoski denied any financial struggles that forced them to approach Uconn. Jukoski said that this agreement introduces an additional revenue source for them and can help strengthen the bond between the two schools.

For the last three years, enrolment has been low in Mitchell. In the academic year 2011-12, the campus community comprised of 952 students, 916 students in the fall of 2011 and 816 students in the fall of 2012. This spring, 2.3 percent fewer students were admitted when compared to spring 2012.