No one affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh should have been surprised when it overenrolled the first-year class again this year. One of the primary goals for the University’s Plan for Pitt 2028 is increasing enrollment — from 20,220 students in fall 2023 to 22,000 by 2028. The University is a business, and they are doing what businesses do — making money and finding ways to make more. As tuition and fees are the second-largest source of income, overenrolling may help balance out the $25 million lost in research funding since the beginning of 2025.
The administration saw this coming. The class of 2025 marked the largest graduating class of high school seniors due to a birth rate spike in 2007. Therefore, it made sense when Pitt’s 2025-26 first-year class had almost 1,300 more students than the year before, with Dietrich alone growing by 476 students.
A logical solution is to make the campus larger, but as Pitt students know, there is little room in Oakland for that — the neighborhood is already overflowing with people, academic buildings and traffic. As a student myself, when Pitt chooses to prioritize construction projects like Victory Heights — a six-year, $240 million athletic center — and the new recreation center, instead of housing — which has not started construction yet — it can feel as though the student body itself is not a priority. It would have been possible to start construction on new dorms or apartments years ago when the University released plans to increase student enrollment in the Plan For Pitt.
When I toured the University of Pittsburgh in March of 2024, I was impressed by the personal care the school provided. I put down the housing deposit on the top floor of Cathy, just 10 minutes after our group tour ended. Students’ best interests should always be the top priority of any academic institution, but it seems as though Pitt is interested in flashy new buildings rather than ensuring its students are housed.
The consequences for students are stark. Hundreds of first years are living in the Marriott Residence Inn, while others were forced to pick up leases off-campus. Lounges in Litchfield Towers have been converted into dorms, while doubles and triples in Holland, Nordenberg and Forbes Halls have been squeezed to fit an extra bed. There has been talk of converting the William Pitt Union — home to vital social and educational services like The Pitt News — into dorms.
Last semester, my friend and I went through the grueling on-campus housing process and ended up with a five-person suite in Brackenridge Hall, which was far from our first choice — there was no air conditioning, only a kitchenette and most of us were going to be sharing a room. Halfway through the summer, Panther Central contacted us stating that our future home was being turned into first-year dorms and we would have to find somewhere else to live for our sophomore year. I immediately assumed the worst — I was going to have to pick up a lease in a shoddy house far from campus with strangers. Luckily, when I called PC for help, they informed me that someone had just given up their spot in Bouquet Gardens — the newest and arguably the nicest on-campus housing option — and that it was mine if I wanted it. I got luckier than I assume most in my position would.
A further negative effect of this housing shortage is its impact on surrounding communities. The Hill District, the neighborhood west of Oakland, has a predominantly Black population and about 40% of residents living below the poverty line. As more first-year and sophomore students are forced to seek housing off-campus, the search will likely have to expand into the surrounding neighborhoods, as Oakland housing continues to become more competitive, potentially beginning a new cycle of gentrification. The University has put itself in a difficult situation — finding space for its growing student population without displacing current residents.
If I was in the class of 2029 — the current first-years — or a senior in high school considering Pitt for my next four years of higher education, I would not feel the same level of love or respect from the University because of the housing shortage on campus. They are failing their current students and the future classes they are working so hard to recruit.
Harper is a political science major and Philadelphia native. Email her at [email protected].