All South Carolina State University students who signed up for residential housing are now living on campus, according to S.C. State Interim Vice President of Student Services Dr. Valerie Fields.

Fields said all students that were living in off-campus housing assignments were moved on campus within the first 13 days of the fall semester.

“That’s phenomenal,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Maurice Washington said during last week’s board committee meetings.

He said he only received two phone calls about a lack of housing on campus this year. That’s in stark contrast to the dozens of phone calls Washington said he received as a result of last year’s housing crunch.

S.C. State President George Cooper said the university made a commitment to only admit as many students as it could place in housing assignments.

“There was no hedge game,” he said. Cooper said he is already thinking about next fall’s housing.

Cooper credited the coordination among the various departments at S.C. State for successfully moving in all students on campus.

John Smalls, senior vice president of finance, said he talked with several developers about building more off-campus private housing in the future.

Vice President of Enrollment Management Antonio Boyle said the university enrolled 1,001 freshman and 282 transfer students this fall. The total enrollment is currently at 4,800 students, he said.

That’s a slight dip from last year’s enrollment of 4,932 students.

This year, students will receive more than $64 million in financial aid compared to $56 million they received in 2007.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060.

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