WINONA, Minn. – The campus at Winona State has been repopulating for fall semester. Freshmen, the university’s Class of 2027, began arriving Thursday for dorm-centric orientation activities. Older students arrived en masse over the weekend, many to dorms but most to private off-campus housing. Vacancies were aplenty in off-campus apartments, which private landlords, not anticipating enrollment drops, have overbuilt in recent years. A major question is whether the enrollment slippage, off a third in the last decade, will be bottoming out. Enrollment a year ago was the equivalent of 5,422 full-time students. There may also be a shift in campus culture. Unlike a decade ago, when back-to-campus partying was a bigger deal, police reported no uptick over the weekend in noise and disorderly complaints around campus and the downtown bar district.
Quiet rental market. Huff Street is lined with recently built apartments, mostly studio units. Lots of vacancies. Image: Steve Lunde