Students will begin moving in at 7 a.m. Friday and more freshmen will filter onto campus throughout the day, said Cari Wallace, vice president of student development. Sophomores, juniors and seniors will head back to campus on Sunday before classes start on Wednesday.
The incoming group of freshmen is the largest and most diverse in school history, according to UD. With only 100 of the more than 2,200 new students planning to commute this fall, Daytonians should expect a lot of move-in traffic this weekend, Wallace said.
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“If there’s anything for the local folks to know about is that on campus on Friday it will be very busy,” Wallace said. “Traffic will be very busy in and around campus.”
To decrease traffic congestion and move-in stress, the university has given students targeted times to arrive throughout the day, based on where they are traveling from, Wallace said.
UD also offered students the chance to move some of their stuff into residence halls last weekend so there would be fewer people moving all of their stuff in on Friday. Around 1,200 freshmen took advantage of that, a promising sign that could make move-in day smoother, Wallace said.
“It just makes their move-in day a little lighter,” she said. “They might just be bringing a suitcase or two.”
The university will have around 430 student volunteers on campus to help freshmen move in. UD has devised what Wallace referred to as a “drop and go” strategy to streamline the move-in process at residence halls.
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Parents or students will drive up to a residence hall and student volunteers help unload the car in order to move students in as quickly as possible. The volunteers have the process down to taking about four minutes flat and Wallace said it can be “quite the spectacle.”
The university also tries to make sure that volunteers are trained to be able to answer any questions or help new students and their families in any way, Wallace said.
“This is always the best time of year. But, for some its also the most stressful time of year,” Wallace said. “Just rolling out the red carpet lessens the stress of the day.”
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