Attention all upperclassmen: there has been an invasion.

On Jan. 8, an unusually large group of 202 new first-year students enrolled at the University to no protest to begin classes this spring.

The University accepted the students and deferred their enrollment to the spring semester as part of an initiative to spread out first-year enrollment over a 12-month period.

Concerns about resources and maximizing the University’s capacity were behind the initiative, said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admissions and enrollment management.

“The University was looking at a way to have a capacity for 5,000,” she said. “We had brought in a 5,000 freshman class in summer-fall before – it’s just too many students for the residence hall space and the core classes most of the students need to take.”

Typically, 25 to 30 first-year students enroll in the spring, having deferred their fall admission for medical reasons or extraordinary opportunities, McDuff said.

Starting one semester later than their cohorts may seem like a disadvantage for these students, but the University took extra measures to avoid handicapping the late arrivals.

“We didn’t put any restrictions on what students did in the fall,” McDuff said. “We said ‘if you want to attend college somewhere else you can.’”

After the fall, if students chose to matriculate to the University, their credits transferred just like an advanced placement or joint enrollment credit.

If students enrolled with no credits, they should have little to no problems getting started with their core classes, said Jere Morehead, vice president for instruction.

“My office works closely with the Franklin College and we communicate back and forth about the number of open seats,” he said.

Though everyone may not get their first choice of classes, Morehead said, overall he has felt the spring admissions have been a success.

Accommodating the new additions ran smoothly for University Housing. Shay Little, director of residence hall administrative operations, said all first-year spring admits have been accommodated, mostly in the freshman dorms.

“Very few actually preferenced to live [in East Campus Village],” she said. “Most of the students are in those first-year residence halls.”

McDuff explained between the fall and spring, about 200 beds open up in the residence halls because of graduation and other reasons.

Filling other openings were about 950 transfer students who had more than 30 hours of transferable credit accumulated at other universities. This showed an increase of about 75 students over years prior, according to the Office of Admissions.

McDuff said the University is responding to this large demand by making the system more competitive.

The University has approved an increase of the minimum transfer grade point average for students with 60 or more hours in an effort to keep those admissions competitive.

The minimum GPA – determined by grades in transfer-eligible classes only – will increase from a 2.5 to a 2.8. The policy change will take effect for students enrolling in spring 2010.