The administration has recently stated its intention to drastically accelerate its plans to increase the size of the graduate population. But no one seems to be questioning whether or not the school and surrounding community have sufficient resources to deal with the sudden influx.
Academic resources, of course, must be the primary concern. The laptop program has cut the number of public computer labs on campus, and those that remain are often in use by classes. One has to wonder if there will be enough workstations for the enlarged number of graduate students, especially as they are not required to have laptops.
Additionally, office space on this campus is already stretched to the breaking point, with more grad students than desks in some offices. Many of the Institute’s research labs are similarly overburdened for bench space. The planned new buildings will help the situation, but they will not be completed for several years—where will these students work in the meantime?
Where, for that matter, will these students live? The student housing market is already tight in Troy, and the highly touted first-year experience effort has failed to make any progress on the problem. The trend of increase in undergraduate class size will only exacerbate the housing crunch.
Perhaps new graduate students will live farther away, forcing them to either contend with the less-than-timely service provided by CDTA or to squabble for the extremely limited number of parking spaces on campus. On the other hand, if they do find lodging in Troy, it may be at the expense of undergraduates who might be forced to remain on campus; with dorm renovations coming up soon, this could significantly overcrowd on-campus housing.
Food services will also face problems, especially in the Union, where there are already staffing problems. A large influx of students will only degrade service further.
In short, the Institute should consider just how it intends to retain the number and quality of graduate students it seeks to recruit without a parallel improvement to the current quality of all aspects of graduate student life.
