The Board of Directors of the Lobo Development Corporation met for the first time June 18 and is looking to expand the amount of on-campus housing UNM can offer.
A market analysis identified the demand for an additional 1,200 beds for undergraduate students and 500 beds for graduate students, according to UNM.
Regent Don Chalmers is chair of the corporation, which includes President David Schmidly, Vice President of Institutional Support Steven Beffort and David Harris, executive vice president of business finance for UNM.
The corporation will meet within the next month to narrow down just how many beds will be added to UNM dorms.
Beffort said it is important to expand on-campus housing because more students are choosing to live at UNM.
"The demand for student housing on campus is increasing because, for one, the rising gas prices are making it harder for commuter students to afford the drive," he said.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The corporation has looked into different options on how to add these beds to the dorms. One option includes using space that is usually used for storage. Another would involve temporarily converting single rooms into double rooms.
Schmidly said it is in UNM's best interest to have more students living on campus.
"I think that expanding the dorm beds we have on campus is crucial for UNM to improve the retention rate at UNM and to help more students graduate within four years," Schmidly said.
Adriana Romero, a head residential advisors at UNM, said it would be great for more students to live on campus.
"The more students we can get to live on campus, the more of a community we will have for the events that happen on campus, like Red Rally," Romero said.
Walter Miller, associate vice president of Student Life, said timing is key in this issue.
"It is important that we have these dorms ready for the open of a fall semester, because if the University is even a few months off, we could lose a lot of potential on-campus student living," Miller said.
A study by the Educational Research Information Center, a private organization, has found students who live on campus graduate at higher rates than commuter students.
Romero said living on campus helped her grow to be a well-rounded student.
"I couldn't imagine how I would be, or where I would be, if I hadn't gotten involved in living on campus," Romero said.
