BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (WOWO) — Michigan colleges and universities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new and renovated student housing as they compete for a shrinking pool of college-bound students, raising questions about whether modern dorms will attract more students or leave schools c arrying significant debt. Several universities have opened or are building new residence halls designed to replace aging buildings, improve the campus experience and give prospective students more attractive housing options. The investments come as Michigan’s college-age population continues to shrink. The number of Michigan high school graduates is projected to fall about 20%, from 106,883 in 2023 to 85,131 by 2041, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Michigan’s overall postsecondary enrollment also has declined substantially. Federal data show enrollment fell 27% from 834,682 students during the 2001-02 academic year to 608,170 in 2023-24. Several public universities have seen particularly sharp declines over the past decade. Ferris State University is down about 30% from 2016 levels, Western Michigan University is down about 25% and Eastern Michigan University is down about 42%. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is an exception. Its enrollment has increased by about 20%, and the university has experienced record numbers of applicants in recent years. Despite the declining student population, university officials  tell Bridge Michigan modernizing housing is necessary because many residence halls are four or five decades old and require millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. At Ferris State, the answer is a new $38 million residence hall built directly along the north end zone of the football stadium. Stadium Hall opened this fall with 282 beds. Residents have views of the football field and can watch practices involving the football team, cheer squad and marching band from their rooms. For first-year student Adam Ruddle of Mackinac Island, the unusual location is part of the appeal. “It’s awesome,” Ruddle said. “It’s a crazy view. It’s really, really cool.” The new residence hall is replacing older housing rather than dramatically increasing Ferris’ overall capacity. Ferris is no longer using Pickell Hall and Hallisy Hall, which together provided about 300 beds. Stadium Hall’s 282 beds therefore represent a replacement and modernization strategy more than a major expansion of the university’s housing inventory. Ferris President Bill Pink said the university needed to improve its residential facilities, particularly as students and their families increasingly consider housing and campus amenities when choosing a college. “We needed to do something to upgrade where we ask our students to live,” Pink said. Pink said the university’s older dormitories were becoming increasingly difficult to justify compared with newer housing being built at other colleges. He said the goal is to make sure students visiting Ferris can immediately recognize the campus as a place where they want to spend their college years. “I need to make sure that when a student sets foot on campus, they look around and say, ‘This is my school,'” Pink said. Ferris isn’t alone. Western Michigan University opened Valley Oaks this fall, a $110 million, four-story residence hall with 1,000 beds for first-year students. More than half of the rooms are designed for single occupancy, and the building includes health and wellness areas, lounges, outdoor space on the roof and private rooms where students can participate in telehealth appointments or have time away from roommates. The building also features exposed timber beams, air conditioning and larger windows intended to give the residence hall a more residential feel. Roshona Porter, Western’s director of housing and residential life, said the university wants to provide housing options that reflect what today’s students expect. Valley Oaks replaced two older residence halls, Harrison/Stinson and Eldridge/Fox. Western has also built other housing during the past decade, including Western Heights in 2015 and Arcadia Flats in 2021, while retiring older facilities. “The university is making sure that we have the right number of beds for enrollment that we have,” Porter said. “We are interested in not just recruitment but also retention.” Western has also developed different housing options for students at various stages of college, including living-learning communities that group students with similar academic interests and provide programming connected to their majors. Porter said the university’s strategy is not necessarily about directly competing with other schools for students. “I don’t necessarily think that we are in competition,” Porter said. “Each university has its positives, and WMU stands out.” Eastern Michigan University has also invested heavily in campus housing. The university spent about $200 million between 2022 and 2025 on new student housing, renovations, air conditioning, improved Wi-Fi and demolition of older buildings. A major part of that effort was the opening of Lakeview and Westview apartments in 2024. At the University of Michigan, the scale is even larger. The Ann Arbor campus opened Wolverine Village this fall, a $649 million complex consisting of five residence halls with approximately 2,300 beds. But U-M’s situation differs from several other Michigan universities. Rather than trying to accommodate fewer students, the university is expanding housing because of strong demand. U-M increased its on-campus housing capacity by about 25%, with officials saying the additional capacity will ensure first-year students can live in residence halls on central campus. The different circumstances raise a fundamental question for Michigan universities experiencing enrollment declines: How much should they spend on housing when fewer students are expected to attend college in the future? Richard Vedder, an Ohio-based economist, professor and author who has studied higher education, said the strategy has produced mixed results in other states. Vedder said colleges in states with stagnant or declining populations have previously invested heavily in new residence halls in hopes of attracting students. Some institutions struggled to fill those buildings, leaving them with significant long-term debt, he said. “Is this a strategy that’s likely to succeed?” Vedder said. “I’m dubious of its success given the state’s demographics and college enrollments.” University officials and higher education advocates argue that the decision is more complicated than simply adding beds. Mia Murphy, chief policy officer of the Michigan Association of State Universities, said public universities have to consider the condition of existing buildings, the cost of deferred maintenance and the expectations of prospective students. Michigan’s public universities also face limits on state funding for revenue-generating facilities such as residence halls. That means universities have to make their own calculations about whether it makes more financial sense to renovate an aging dormitory, retire it or replace it with a new building. “As the universities are making these calculations … they want to make sure that they are market-competitive,” Murphy said. Murphy said students today have expectations for housing and campus amenities that may be different from those of previous generations. “If you are going to renovate a building anyway, why not do something really unique like have it overlook the Division II national championship-winning football field?” Murphy said. “It’s pretty innovative.” The stakes are significant for students and their families because housing is a major part of the cost of attending college. College Board research puts the typical annual cost of on-campus housing and meal plans at roughly $14,000 to $16,000. Combined with tuition ranging from about $12,000 to $45,000 annually depending on the institution, the total annual cost for students living on campus can reach roughly $26,000 to $61,000. University leaders say housing can influence a student’s decision about where to enroll. Western Michigan President Russ Kavalhuna put the issue bluntly when discussing what could happen if universities failed to modernize aging residence halls. “They might choose a different place,” Kavalhuna said. At Ferris State, administrators believe Stadium Hall can help introduce the university to prospective students who might otherwise overlook it. Randen Brown, a 23-year-old graduate student and senior staff advisor at Stadium Hall, said the building could make a difference for students who are unfamiliar with Ferris. “It will drive those students graduating from high school to give Ferris a chance,” Brown said. Brown said he was unfamiliar with Ferris when he first began looking at colleges, but believes the new residence hall could increase the school’s visibility among students and parents. “And once they come visit, I think they will be blown away with what Ferris offers in general,” Brown said. The demographic challenge facing Michigan colleges, however, remains. Even as universities modernize their campuses, the number of traditional college-age students is expected to decline. That leaves administrators balancing two competing needs: replacing aging and increasingly expensive residence halls while avoiding more housing capacity than the market can support. For schools such as Ferris, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, much of the recent construction has involved replacing older dorms rather than simply adding thousands of new beds. For the University of Michigan, strong enrollment demand has supported a major expansion. The long-term question for Michigan’s colleges is whether modern housing will help schools maintain enrollment and retain students — or whether declining demographics will eventually leave some universities paying for buildings designed for a student population that no longer exists. The post New Michigan College Dorms Cost Millions as Schools Compete for Fewer Students appeared first on WOWO News/Talk 92.3 FM and 1190 AM. ...read more read less