The freshmen on campus are a problem, and it’s not even because of them; it’s because of the rules.

So, what is this freshman problem?

Well, it’s housing. If you have read a few of the recent articles we’ve posted or seen the campus’s Instagram page, then you will know that our enrollment has been increasing rapidly in recent years. You would also know that the main University of Tennessee at Martin campus is nearly at full capacity.

So, if it is a campus-wide problem, why did I say it was a freshman problem? That’s quite simple, actually.

For those who are unaware, freshmen are required to live on campus for their first year. This is because the school doesn’t gain funding from the state for its housing facilities. They require freshmen to live in on-campus housing as a guaranteed way for the campus to receive the funds needed to maintain the dorms. Essentially, this allows them to ensure they have the necessary funding for any issues students encounter with their dorms or any work that needs to be done within the dorms.

That rule becomes a problem when freshmen fill up almost all the dorms on the campus. The UT Martin Instagram page posted the number of freshmen as 1,329. With a campus that has only about 2,000 beds, freshmen take up over 65% of them. That’s more than three-fifths of the beds on campus. That is absurdly high, and that number will only continue to increase if Skyhawk enrollment continues to soar (pun intended).

What can be done about it? One step would be lifting this requirement for local freshmen.

While some local freshmen can live off campus and commute, it’s a long process that’s required to do so. My idea is to just get rid of the requirement for students living in the county or nearby counties. It is completely up to the student whether they want to live on campus or just stay at home and drive without having to do any of that long paperwork.

This, while it won’t completely solve the problem, will help lessen the blow in upcoming semesters. Also, with Browning Hall being taken down in the coming fall, we can use all the free spaces we can get; letting more students come to Martin and giving more opportunities for our scholars to soar like a Skyhawk.