Policy changes reflect growth in enrollment and feedback from students
Bethlehem, Pa., January 7, 2016To accommodate its rapidly growing student population, Moravian College recently announced that students can apply to live in off-campus housing beginning this fall. The College has also made changes to its meal plan offerings to provide students with greater flexibility and choice, and is developing a plan for student parking in anticipation of multiple construction projects on campus in the coming year.
"Moravian College remains a residential college and we will continue to guarantee on-campus housing for students, said Dr. Nicole L. Loyd, vice president for student affairs and dean of students. However, we will be offering a limited number of off-campus releases for the 2016-2017 academic year to rising seniors and juniors.
Students interested in living off campus (and not commuting from a parent or guardians home), need to meet a number of criteria to apply. They must be a rising junior or have senior status, maintain a minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA, and be in good financial and conduct standing. Moravian College has partnered with to help students find and locate viable leasing options in the community.
This change reverses Moravians policy announced in February of 2010 that required non-commuter students to live in housing provided by the College beginning in the fall of that year. The College was acting upon recommendations from its DREAM Commission report developed in 2006 which called for the institution to achieve the goal of being an 85% residential campus. Construction of The HILL living and learning community on the Hurd campus in 2009 allowed the College to realize this residential campus goal.
Enrollment growth in recent years, including last years record-breaking incoming Class of 2019 and the anticipated size of the Class of 2020, has necessitated the policy change to accommodate the housing needs of our students, Loyd continued. We are pleased that Moravian is considered a hot college and experiencing an enrollment boom. At the same time, we strive to provide accommodations that best fit the needs of our students.
Another change for this fall will affect commuter students who will no longer be required to have a meal plan, but may opt into any plan. Residential students will still be expected to have a meal plan based on housing type; however, the meal plans will transition from the current weekly meal allotment to a semester block meal plan that includes dining dollars and guest meals. The move is designed to provide students with greater flexibility in the use of their meal plan throughout the year.
Parking for students continues to be limited on campus. In the coming year, some smaller lots will be taken offline due to construction and other campus projects and fewer sophomores will likely receive a resident parking tag than in years past. The College is working on a plan to meet parking needs of our entire community. In the meantime, returning resident students will be invited to participate in the seniority based parking application process.
Moravian College is a private coeducational liberal arts college, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For over 274 years, the Moravian College degree has been based on a liberal arts curriculum where literature, history, cultural values and global issues, ethics, and aesthetic expression and the social sciences are infused with multidisciplinary perspectives. Visit to learn more.