Jadalynn Diaz is one of 1,000 freshmen now living in dorms on Buffalo State College’s campus. The criminal justice major and her family made the drive to Buffalo Thursday from their home in the Bronx. For Diaz’s mom, Grace, it’s both exciting and a bit heartbreaking.
“It’s going to be sad and lonely, but it’s for her benefit and it’s for the good,” she said as she helped her daughter move into her new dorm. “I’m proud of her.”
While the fall semester doesn’t start until Monday for many local colleges, thousands of students are already arriving on campuses. Buffalo State expects more than 1,000 first-year students to move into its dorms, part of the more than 2,200 total students expected to live on campus this fall.
The college is still calculating the number of additional commuter students expected to take classes.
Buffalo State President Dr. Katherine Conway-Turner said administrators, faculty and staff have been preparing the campus throughout the summer, including a $16 million renovation of Tower 3 residence Hall, but that the campus doesn’t truly come alive until students return.
“When you get started again the excitement is in the air so it’s really great to have the new students coming on campus and the returning students coming back on campus,” Conway-Turner said, adding the college will hold its convocation ceremony Friday to welcome freshmen.
Buffalo State’s total freshman class is roughly 1,700 students. The college reports it had nearly 15,000 first-year applicants — the highest among SUNY comprehensive colleges.
Adra McClary said her son, freshmen Jeremiah Anderson, chose Buffalo State in part because of its affordability. She noted she was salutatorian of Uprep charter school in Rochester and had many scholarships.
Buffalo State and other SUNY colleges have a $7,000 tuition this academic year. New York state’s Excelsior Scholarship waives that tuition for state residents who families make $125,000 or fewer.
“This was the best choice,” McClary said. “We did a lot of comparison shopping.”
