AUSTIN, Texas — Monday is the first day of classes for students at the University of Texas at Austin. University staff is expecting to welcome 8,600 freshman this school year, and they say every dorm is up to move-in standards.
As new Longhorns settle into their temporary homes on the Forty Acres, Aaron Voyles, director of Residential Experience at UT, said it's all thanks to a lot of preparation ahead of time.
"'Mooov-In' [has] become a pretty well-oiled machine, but we're always looking for just what we can tweak to make it smoother," Voyles said.
Last year, the university faced frustration when dozens of students expected to move into the newest on-campus residence hall, Dobie Twenty21. Students were told last minute that they would have to relocate because of extensive maintenance problems at the building.
Voyles said that isn't the case this fall.
"As soon as we became aware of the maintenance issues, we began working on them. We've continued to work on them through the year and this summer. And [I'm] excited to say that, we're ready for full occupancy in that building and all of our residence halls for this year," Voyles said.
Voyles also said UT has maintenance teams on call 24/7 if anything unexpected comes up. Before students move in, staff also conducts a final inspection of all residence halls twice.
"Our maintenance team goes through first and then during the final week before folks move in, our RAs [resident assistants] and their professional staff will go through to do one last check in, make sure that all the rooms are ready to go and just make sure that everything's ready," Voyles said.
In a recent resident survey, UT found that 97% of students said they felt safe in their dorm room and residence hallways – an aspect to campus life the university wants to uphold.
The university has a 24-hour desk at each of its residence hall complexes with swipe access, cameras at all entrances and exits and swipe locks in dorm housing that will give the campus the ability to lock down any buildings quickly.
Voyles said the biggest takeaway from the survey was the student-to-RA connection. Officials say students felt when they have a strong connection with their RA, their satisfaction with the college experience went way up.
"I'm really proud to have a program where our resident assistant staff are able to connect with students and make students who are maybe coming away from home for the first time feel like the Forty Acres is their new home and can be a space where they can be the type of Longhorn that they want to be," Voyles said.