Large incoming classes create challenges for on- and off-campus housing

Two apartment complexes are being constructed across from the Pac-N-Save in Seward.

Photo credit: Ellen Beck

By Hope Nelson

This article is featured in the February print edition of the Sower newspaper. 

Concordia’s student population is growing, thanks to historically large incoming classes, but with these numbers come challenges in finding housing for all students, both on- and off-campus.

Faculty and staff across campus are working to make sure that the university can accommodate students from the day they step on campus until their graduation day.

“Admissions has a goal that [the class of 2029] is going to be a large class, and I think they’re on track to achieve that,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Gene Brooks. “In addition, our retention is looking better than it has in the past. Those two things combined will probably result in the residence halls being full [in fall 2025].”

The Student Life Office is still early in the housing planning process for the 2025-26 school year, but it is starting to think about what housing will look like.

Last year, the off-campus policy changed to allow students who turn 21 on or before Dec. 31 of the year they wish to live off-campus to apply for this type of housing. This policy, according to Director of Student Life Rebekah Freed, is staying the same for the 2025-26 school year.

“With last year’s policy change, we didn’t have much historical data to make guesses on,” Freed said. “Now we have one year of data, so we can make guesses on [housing numbers] a bit better. Something that happens every year, whether the dorms are full or not, is that when we finish the housing process in the spring, [the dorms] are more full than they will be when people show up, because people’s plans can change.”

For off-campus students, finding housing in the Seward community can prove a challenge, but Brooks said developers are building more apartments in the city.

“Out by Pac-N-Save,” Brooks said, “there are two big apartment complexes, side by side, that they’re putting up right now.”

“We had some meetings near the end of last year with the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership, and it was really neat to hear some of their plans,” Freed added. “Just having more housing in Seward does help our students, even if the housing being built isn’t specific to students, because it frees up other spaces.”

Junior Avery Rothert plans to live off-campus next year and said that students should expect to start early if they want to secure housing.

“In terms of finding off-campus housing, it’s best to start as early as possible,” she said. “The beginning of fall semester [2024], it helped to gather a group to room with and already be reaching out to a landlord. This ensures that you secure a place before they’re all spoken for!”

Something that is more likely to change this year, Freed said, is that more resident assistants will have roommates. Historically, RAs have been able to choose to have private rooms as space allows.

“The [resident assistant] policy isn’t changing; it’s just looking like we won’t have as much room,” Freed said. “We’re trying to communicate that from the beginning to the RA applicants this year.”

In addition, while no large-scale renovations will occur on campus this summer– as they did in the Esther dorm last year and across campus with the installation of micro-fridges and microwaves in each dorm room– SLO will still implement annual, small-scale improvements.

“Major renovations typically happen every two to three years, just cash-flow wise,” Freed said. “Every summer we work on some updates…things that people don’t necessarily notice. For example, every summer we replace a chunk of the mattresses across campus.”

Brooks added that Obed dorm will be the site of the next major renovations, most likely in summer 2026.

Brooks and Freed both noted that SLO takes into account the responses to annual “student experience” surveys when considering changes made across campus.

“Thank you to the students who fill that experience survey out,” said Freed. “That really does help us, especially in the residence halls, to know where the issues are.”