On June 11, returning Smith College students had their summer breaks briefly interrupted by an email from the Office of Student Affairs announcing a larger-than-usual incoming class. This overenrollment, they stated, would affect student housing assignments across campus.
Citing the college’s mission, values and the availability of financial aid, the email described overenrollment as “wonderful news for Smith,” while simultaneously presenting a challenge to the Office of Residence Life who would be “working creatively to expand housing options.”
According to data published as of Aug. 1, Smith admitted 1,816 students out of 8,102 applicants, or 22%. Of those admitted, 703 enrolled — about a 39% yield rate.
“Our overall yield was the highest it has been in more than 15 years,” the Vice President for Enrollment, Joanna May, told The Sophian. “This year, the percentage of admitted Regular Decision students who chose Smith increased by 4 points. Typically, yield varies by 1 to 2 points and 4 points is an extremely unusual increase.”
In the weeks following the email from Student Affairs, upperclass students on track to graduate in January of 2026 received offers to give up their current housing assignment and live in the Ellery Hotel for the fall semester. The Ellery, a boutique inn located a few minutes down the road from campus, had previously contracted with Smith to provide additional student housing during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. To make up for the inn’s distance from campus, Residence Life offered additional amenities for students who elected to stay at the Ellery, including free laundry service, king and queen-sized beds, fridges, televisions, private bathrooms and free parking.
Later in the summer, Residence Life sent a follow-up email describing their plan to accommodate the incoming class by “expanding the use of non-traditional temporary rooms — such as converting house libraries and studies into student spaces — and by utilizing all available beds in special interest houses and Ada Comstock houses.”
Unlike some universities that base the cost of housing on type, Smith charges a flat, all-encompassing rate for room and board at $23,360 per year. The price can only be reduced through financial aid, and/or if a student is living in non-traditional housing. For example, the on-campus Friedman apartments are $11,700 per year and do not include board.
According to Hannah Durrant, the Director of Residence Life, there are currently 57 students living in temporary housing, five traditional students living in Conway House (typically reserved for Ada Comstock students) and five students who elected to live in the Ellery. They indicated that these temporary arrangements are only intended to be used for this academic year. However, this is not the first time the college has chosen to use temporary housing.
What does it mean to live in a “temporary” room?
According to Durrant, Smith first sought out temporary housing in the early 2000s when enrollment figures first surpassed the number of permanent beds. As a result, thirty-three temporary beds were added on campus.
“There was one particular year when the temporary beds were not enough and we rented a space from the Clark School for the Deaf — a residence hall called Gawith House they had just taken off line,” said Durrant. “Approximately 25 new students were housed in Gawith for that fall semester.”
Apart from Gawith residence hall, the spaces that were designated as temporary rooms in the 2000s are still in use today, as needed.
Bella Correia ‘28 lived in a temporary assignment on the first floor of Jordan House for the majority of her first year at Smith: Jordan 100P, formerly a study space.
“It was a pretty big room, so we were excited about that at first,” said Correia. “But the room had more downsides than positives, I would say. The windows were perpetually broken and not sealed properly, so there was constant cold air in the winter months. And sometimes when it was windy enough, it would blow our doors open because they were French doors and the lock was broken.”
Correia also indicated that the broken windows appeared to exacerbate issues with bugs getting into their room.
“There was one white centipede that just kept coming back,” she said.
Living with one other first year roommate, Correia said the room came with two beds and desks but no mirror or bookcases.
“We each had a small wardrobe situation that was supposed to be like a closet, but it was half the size of the bigger temporary closets that they have in some of the rooms I’ve seen,” she said.
In addition, because there were no full-sized communal bathrooms on the first floor apart from a single-occupancy one, Correia said they had to go upstairs to shower.
“We would be running late and we wouldn’t be able to brush our teeth because somebody was in there. I brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink a few times, actually, because of the bathroom being taken in the morning,” she said.
When Correia was first notified over the summer that she would be living in a temporary assignment, she said Residence Life promised students in temporary housing they would be first on the list of priorities when requesting a room change. When she and her roommate finally decided they needed to move out of room 100P, they had to wait until after winter break to submit their request.
“They don’t open for two weeks into the second semester. So we waited for the two weeks and we submitted the day of. It took them another week and a half, almost two weeks to get back to us, even though we were supposed to be at the top of the list,” she said. “Also, I was hearing about other people getting their room change requests before us during that whole week. So it took them longer than it probably should have.”
The process of assigning rooms, changing rooms or accommodating students who are registered with the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC), mostly happens behind closed doors. Durrant explained the reasoning behind this two-week buffer.
“We have a housing freeze for the first two weeks of the semester so we can get an accurate count of who is here, what accessibility needs are required and where the vacant beds are,” they said.
Correia is now one of the Heads of New Students (HONS) for Jordan House, an elected position within the housing system that supports first years during their transition to college. There are currently two first years residing in her old room.
“The thing that ResLife doesn’t tell you beforehand is that you will have to go upstairs to shower. And on the first night that they arrived here, they were wandering around looking for their shower,” said Correia. “That definitely is not nice for first years. It’s their first night away from home and they don’t know where to shower.”
As is the nature of house living rooms and study spaces, not all temporary rooms are made equal. Some may even seem like a better deal than a permanent room, as converted communal spaces are sometimes larger than typical rooms, contain extra features like fireplaces or built-in shelves, or have more windows and better views of campus.
“We got lucky,” said Julia Todd ’29, who lives in a temporary room in Talbot House with her roommate, Annabelle Daniels ’29. “There are only two of us, and it’s quite big for a double.”
The room, which used to be a parlor and had the nickname “Fussers” is situated near the front door. This is the first year it is being used as a housing assignment.
“I could imagine them putting three of us in there and it wouldn’t be that crazy,” said Daniels.
In addition to beds, dressers, wardrobes and desks, the room came with a wall of built-in bookshelves. “That’s my favorite part,” said Todd.
Upon enrolling at Smith, students must fill out a housing preference form for Residence Life to use in their placement of students across campus. Todd and Daniels recalled putting the Mountain Neighborhood as a first or second preference, but didn’t have strong feelings about where they would end up.
“I feel like I’ve had people from the house who see our room and are like, ‘this is crazy, I wish I had a room this big,’” Todd said.
Further, unlike Jordan House, Talbot does have communal bathrooms on the first floor that are equipped with showers and available to use anytime. The only gripe the two have with the room is its location which can feel less private than other rooms.
“I would like to be able to open my window all the time, but it opens onto the porch so I feel weird about it,” said Todd.
“When people are sitting on the swing out there, you can hear them, which kind of sucks,” added Daniels. “Whenever the [front] door opens and closes it makes a loud noise, and it’s right near the living room, which is also loud.”
Beyond that, the two roommates are overall happy with their housing assignment, but acknowledged that the situation was not uniform across campus.
“I know that some of the other temporary housing is not as good as ours,” said Todd.
“I think we’re really pretty lucky,” Daniels agreed.
What’s actually going on with enrollment?
Despite these increases in on-campus housing, incoming classes have not increased in size in recent years.
According to May, the target for enrollment every year is 650 students. Smith has not deviated from this target in the past several years: the college enrolled 645 students into the class of ’28, 649 students into the class of ’27 and 619 students into the class of ’26. The relatively smaller class of ’26 accommodated the larger-than-usual class of ’25 due to pandemic deferment.
“We need to admit more students than we aim to enroll as Regular Decision students typically have several college options, and many more choose not to enroll than choose to enroll,” said May. “Once we know how many students are enrolled through Early Decision 1 and 2 in February, we assess how many spots remain in the class. We take that number and use predictive modeling to assess how many students we need to admit in Regular Decision to reach that goal. We also leave space in the class to take some students from the waitlist.”
This enrollment season, no students were admitted off the waitlist.
“Smith closed out our waitlist without making any additional offers of admission for just the second time in 20 years,” said May.
Durrant indicated that there may be other reasons why residential housing appears to be stretching thin.
“Residence Life’s data shows that fewer students are living off campus and there is a slight decline in students studying away during their junior year,” they said. “Whether or not class sizes are getting bigger, we have more students needing to live on campus.”
The driving forces behind why so many students decided to enroll at Smith this year versus other colleges are harder to pinpoint.
“I applied to a lot of schools because I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go,” said Daniels. “I visited all the schools I was admitted to, and I was looking for one that I meshed well with. This ended up being the best.”
Both Daniels and Todd are part of Smith’s Student Research in Departments (STRIDE) program — a scholarship program that places students in paid research positions.
“There were generally a lot of opportunities for engagement and this emphasis on change-making that I thought was really cool,” said Todd. “But also, when I visited, it felt like a very homey campus with a strong community.”
Todd recalled visiting campus for Admitted Students Day, which is an overnight experience chock-full of events intended to secure student enrollment.
“Out of all the schools that I was considering, [Smith] did the most after I was accepted to try to get me,” said Todd.
Daniels also pointed out a general trend in the college application process that she has witnessed. “I feel like it’s a thing now where people will apply to so many places and stay on the wait list, or be in multiple places at once instead of picking one,” she said. “It’s not the college’s fault.”
From an administrative standpoint, the burst of enrollment is still somewhat of a mystery.
“We don’t know exactly why so many students chose to enroll this year,” said May. “We do think Smith’s mission, values and commitment to equity and inclusion resonated with students. Smith also offers one of the most generous financial aid programs in the country and has remained committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated need with no loans.”
Durrant expressed a similar sentiment, though the prognosis for temporary housing in future semesters remains unclear.
“While we were not expecting the large class, it is a great sign that students are seeking the type of educational experience that Smith provides,” they said. “There are always opportunities to learn and grow from experiences. In the coming months, there will be opportunities to debrief and use the learning takeaways to navigate future challenges.”
