Freshman move-in day at the University of North Florida was held on Friday.
Moving day was a fiasco in 2022 after hundreds of students were placed on a waitlist to find out if they’d have a place to stay, but this year looks like it’s shaping up to be much better.
Last fall, UNF had a waitlist of nearly 300 people hoping to live on campus the week before classes started.
As of Thursday, 3,700 students were assigned to live on campus. News4JAX was told there was enough room for all incoming students and the college has plans to build more in the future.
To maximize bed space, UNF has converted three of its seven residential communities to house three students per room. The school said these communities were originally designed for triple occupancy, but have traditionally been used to house two students.
Related: UNF offering ‘AI Bootcamp’ to teach emerging technology as job demand grows
The university is also working on designs to build a new residence hall for honors students. It will have over 500 beds and construction is expected to start early next year.
Crews are also remodeling the last of the oldest original buildings on campus. Honors Hall houses classrooms and office space.
Over the summer, a contractor found a small amount of asbestos material in samples of drywall. The school said it didn’t pose a hazard, but was removed as part of the renovations. That work was completed last week and the building will be usable when classes begin next week.
Over the next five years, UNF hopes to increase enrollment to 25,000 students and the school has plenty to attract new students.
UNF was recently named one of Princeton Review’s “Best Colleges in the South” for the 15th consecutive year.