ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus has grown to 13,567 students this year, according to enrollment numbers released Thursday by ASU.
This number is up from 11,503 reported by ASU in the fall of 2009.
Campus estimates at build-out projected 15,000 students at the Downtown campus with 4,000 living on campus, said Jeremy Legg of the City of Phoenix Community and Economic Development Department.
The number of residents at the Taylor Place dormitory also increased to approximately 1,100–up from just under 800 students a year ago. Taylor Place can currently hold nearly 1,300 students.
Some students felt the presence of students at the Downtown campus was stronger in its fifth year of operation than in years past.
Elizabeth Peeples, a nursing sophomore in her second year at the Downtown campus, said she was surprised by the amount of students she saw on campus this year. She added, though, that this is just a small step for the growing campus in both population and student life.
“I kind of feel like Tempe forgot about us,” Peeples said. “I still kind of feel like we are a satellite campus … I think (growth will) happen naturally.”
Some local businesses have also noticed a difference.
“It’s a really good impact,” said Karla Vergopia, owner and manager of Arizona Center Quick Mart, adding that sales have increased this semester from last and especially from the summer season when the downtown campus was not as populated. “It’s really good to have the students around.”
Many of these downtown students also take classes at the Tempe, Polytechnic and West campuses. Over 5,000 students are enrolled on more than one campus, ASU announced.
Kye Pfutzenreuter, an exercise and wellness sophomore, lives in Tempe but is attending classes at the Downtown campus for the first time this year. While he said he does not spend that much time downtown as in Tempe, his preconceptions about student life at the Downtown campus seemed to be proven untrue.
“I was expecting a lot less of a student base than there was,” Pfutzenreuter said of the campus, where he takes classes due to the movement of his major from the Polytechnic campus to the Downtown campus.
Some students enjoy the smaller atmosphere but feel the campus could do more to accommodate alternative students such as commuter students.
“I like the student atmosphere so far,” said exploratory and social and behavioral sciences freshman Jasmine Sanchez. “Everyone pretty much knows each other or gets to know each other.”
“They could probably do more,” though, she added. “I don’t want them to take more money, but there’s money they could take from enrollment.”
ASU total enrollment composed of both undergraduate and graduate students has also increased to 70,440 students, up from 68,064 at this time last fall.
Contact the reporter at vpelham@asu.edu
