San Diego State has once again reached a record high in incoming undergraduate applications for the fall 2019 semester, with 69,360 freshman applications and more than 25,400 transfer applications for a total of 94,142, according to a university press release.
The number is up from the 93,600 undergraduate applications received last year, which itself was a record.
SDSU has experienced a substantial trend of popularity among applicants with the university receiving more than 80,000 applications consecutively for the last four years with the number reaching 90,000 for the last two.
Suraj Puri, a senior finance student, recalled the reasons why he wanted to attend SDSU.
“Coming from a small town in the suburbs, I wanted to go to a big city and just experience what that would be like,” Puri said. “SDSU was something I was definitely looking for and they have a great business program so it made sense for me to come here. I love it here.”
Journalism freshman Juniper Perkins said her decision to attend SDSU was settled once she visited the campus and discovered the opportunities she had to get involved.
“This was one of my top two choices, and then I really settled on it after I visited the campus because it’s really pretty,” she said. “It had my major journalism, so that was a good thing, and there were also a ton of things to get involved (with) in regards to journalism.”
The introduction of new dorms and the evident increasing interest in attending SDSU creates favorable circumstances for the university to make money. Anthropology junior Rhys Staninger, who transferred from a junior college, noted the efforts made by SDSU to increase revenue through housing and its impact on the local economy.
“I feel like school is as much of a business as anything, they’re trying to make as much money as possible, especially with them making the kids live in the dorms for an additional year,” he said. “I guess it’s good for businesses as well because those kids are gonna be spending money at the local businesses you know it’s pretty good for the city as a whole (besides) the whole traffic part if you live in the area.”
The university will soon get an opportunity for expansion — the SDSU West initiative, which was passed by 54 percent of San Diego voters in November, will authorize the city to sell the current SDCCU Stadium site to the university for a satellite campus.
SDSU has already published conceptual plans for housing, research space and a new football stadium on the site.
However, the completion time for SDSU West remains unknown as it undergoes the beginning of the environmental review for the site, according to a university release.
Uaxaca Hall, the building by Chapultepec Hall that is currently in construction, has a construction budget of $130 million and is estimated to be completed by August 2019, according to the SDSU Housing and Residential Education website.
The future freshman residence hall plans to fit more than 800 students and will include a market and coffee component available for Chapultepec and Uaxaca residents.
