Freshmen settle in at Saint Martin’s

move-in day: Tuition rises but number of students remains stable

VENICE BUHAIN; The Olympian | • Published August 28, 2009

Comments (0)

photos Photos

LACEY – Thursday was move-in day for the freshmen at Saint Martin’s University.

First-year student Melissa Jankanisch and her mother, Lisa Hardy, pulled clothes and linens out of plastic tubs and boxes as she prepared for her first day of college.

Jankanisch, who plans to major in elementary education, said she chose Saint Martin’s because she was looking for a small school that was close to her family in Auburn.

“We think she picked a good university,” her mother said. “It’s definitely very ‘Melissa.’”

Returning students who plan to live on campus will arrive over the weekend, and fall semester starts Monday.

The private Catholic college, which has about 1,250 students at its Lacey campus, has a smaller freshman class than last year, but the numbers of transfer students and returning students were up, said Eric Pedersen, dean of admissions and financial aid. The college is affiliated with the Order of St. Benedict, which still has an abbey of monks on campus.

In the past few years, the school has made an effort to increase its student population, adding classrooms and residence halls to accommodate the growth. Last year, the school opened a campus health clinic and broke ground on a fitness and recreation center.

This year’s student population has remained equal to last year’s, which was the college’s goal, Pedersen said.

Undergraduate tuition rose about 4.5 percent to $24,880 a year, according to college officials. Like public colleges, Saint Martin’s experienced some “belt-tightening” last spring, but school president Roy Heynderickx said the cuts were made away from the classroom.

“We spent a lot of effort in the spring with the faculty and staff on keeping it away from the student experience,” Heynderickx said. Cuts were made in administrative departments, such as fundraising, he said.

Spokeswoman Genevieve Chan said that the college has invested in programs for students, including a new contract with Barnes & Noble Booksellers to run the student bookstore that will allow greater access to used textbooks, a new cafeteria vendor and making sure that the college’s new recreational center will have enough staff during the hours that students want to use its facilities.

The recreational center is nearing completion, but not yet open. It was built through donations and will include fitness facilities.

Student body president Ahmadou Seck, a junior, said he hopes that students are motivated to become involved, because he expects many new campus traditions and activities to be started in conjunction with the new recreation center and the other recent additions to campus life.

“There’s a lot of change that’s going set the course for the next 20 years,” Seck said.

Venice Buhain: 360-754-5445

vbuhain@theolympian.com

www.theolympian.com/edblog

school start dates

Colleges

Saint Martin’s University: Monday

South Puget Sound Community College: Sept. 21

The Evergreen State College: Sept. 28

K-12

Rainier, Tenino: Sept. 2

Yelm: Sept. 8