Brown and White Vol. 134 no. 17

              The Brown and White Vol. 134 No. 17
Friday, April 13, 2018 ‘All the Lehigh News First’
RESIDENTS VOICE CONSTRUCTION CONCERNS
22 percent for ’22: acceptance rate drops to all-time low
The members of the class of
2022 haven’t arrived on campus
yet, but they’ve already overcame
a significant challenge: they were
accepted to Lehigh with a 22 per-cent
acceptance rate, a new record
low in university history.
Out of the 15,623 students who
applied for a spot in the class of
2022, 3,418 were selected from the
Early Decision I, Early Decision
II and regular decision applicant
pools.
Bruce Bunnick, the interim vice
provost of admissions and finan-cial
aid, said this year’s total appli-cant
pool was 12.6 percent larger
than last year’s, which consisted
of 13,871 students. Bunnick said
Lehigh received more applicants
this year than ever before, and
largely attributes this increase to
expanded outreach efforts in the
United States — specifically in
California — and abroad.
“At the end of the day we’re
trying to attract students who will
be a good fit for Lehigh,” Bunnick
said. “We’re trying to diversify
the campus and (globalize) the
campus.”
Lehigh’s Western Regional
Office in California has drawn
more applicants, and Bunnick
said the opportunity to engage
with undergraduates, faculty and
alumni also encourages students
By JAKE EPSTEIN
Associate News Editor
to apply.
As Lehigh’s application becomes
more competitive, the university
is also becoming more expensive.
Tuition for the 2018-19 academ-ic
year has increased by 4.3 per-cent,
bringing the total cost of
attendance to a record high of
$66,730.
Patricia A. Johnson, the vice
provost for finance and adminis-tration,
said additional costs will
go toward merit increases for fac-ulty,
the costs of signing on new
faculty, financial aid increases,
and utilities and services such as
By CASEY FARMER
Managing Editor
Mudassir Kadri/B&W Staff
A crane collects debris on a former faculty parking lot on Birkel Avenue on April 6. The construction of SouthSide Commons is taking place
off campus at 444 Brodhead Ave., with Packer Avenue bordering the south side of the building.
As Lehigh prepares to expand
its undergraduate population by
1,000 students over the next 10
See RATE Page 3
years, the university is working to
add two new housing options for
students.
University architect Brent
Stringfellow said the Path to
Prominence implementation plan
follows five goals, the first of which
is “to grow and support residential
life.”
To achieve this, the university
plans to construct one on-campus
residence hall and one off-campus
housing option, as well as com-plete
renovations to the University
Center.
Bridge West Hall will be con-structed
on campus in the place
of Trembley Park and the Kappa
Delta house.
It will serve as a Lehigh residen-tial
hall for underclassmen stu-dents.
Site preparation will begin
in the fall with construction start-ing
in 2019.
The other new residential build-ing,
SouthSide Commons, will
operate as a Lehigh-affiliated
apartment building.
It will be located just off campus
at 444 Brodhead Ave., with Packer
Avenue bordering the south side of
the building.
Stringfellow said Lehigh leased
the land for SouthSide Commons
to collegiate housing developer
EdR, which will own and operate
the building for 50 years.
“It’s a win-win — for universi-ties,
it means that you don’t need
all of the cash up front, and it’s
also a great model, in particu-lar
for apartment-style units, not
necessarily one we would imagine
for first- or second-year students,”
Stringfellow said. “We see it as a
new type of housing that’s avail-able
for students that’s off campus,
but it’s a different option from hav-ing
to rent a house.”
Charles Poropatic, the senior
See COMMONS Page 2
SouthSide Commons changes living conditions for neighbors