UConn-Avery Point drawing students from more communities
Groton — The University of Connecticut at Avery Point expects to enroll 240 new freshmen and 40 new transfer students this fall, including students from 81 high schools, campus director Annemarie Seifert said.
Enrollment figures are not final until the 10th day of class, so it’s too early to know how final figures will compare with those of last year.
But preliminary figures point to an increasingly diverse student body, as freshmen last year came from 77 high schools.
The incoming freshman class also includes three salutatorians and 11 merit-based UConn scholarship recipients, Seifert said.
“More and more students are choosing to become part of the Husky nation by becoming part of (Avery Point),” she said. Location, small class size and financial reasons are the top three reasons students choose the campus, she said.
UConn-Avery Point, once considered a feeder school to the main campus and strictly for commuters, is also seeing students opt to live near the Avery Point campus in off-campus housing.
Country Glen Apartments rented 13 apartments to students, and The Ledges rented two.
Rental data was not available on Groton Estates, but the complex confirmed that it has students living there.
The Avery Point campus welcome center and student union were virtually empty at lunchtime on Thursday, as most students will arrive on campus this weekend for the start of classes on Monday.
But the campus already has 128 students registered with its off-campus housing office.
The university plans to continue a shuttle bus service piloted last year, which will loop from the campus to the off-campus apartment complexes where students live, Seifert said.
UConn-Avery Point also plans to make physical improvements this year. The university demolished the old Coast Guard building last fall and will finish landscaping the area this spring to create a “campus quad,” or green space with four campus buildings as anchors.
“It’s still a construction site,” Seifert said of the space. “The idea is that this spring, all those construction fences will come down and it will be made into a green space that the whole campus can enjoy.”
UConn has six campuses, including the main campus at Storrs.
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