George Mason University to Open 37-Acre, Full-Service Campus in Ashburn

[Caladium]

So many families in Ashburn/Sterling/Herndon/Reston have kids going to GMU. So I think this is a fantastic thing, not only because my kids won't have to drive as far, but because it will relieve congestion on the route to Fairfax. Shorter drives take a lot of cars off the road.

[VicodinES]

I teach part time as an adjunct for GMU, and in the 9 years I've been associated with them, the student body has changed considerably. It was a commuter school, almost entirely from NoVA. The students were a mix of NOVA transfers, part timers, adults going back to school after hitting the wall in their field, kids who couldn't afford to go anywhere else and were living at home, and a small minority of traditional college students. Based on what I've seen in my classroom, they've changed to a much larger majority of traditional students, and fewer of the non-traditional students. I still have night classes dominated by the non-traditional types.
No hard numbers here, but in my estimation, the number of on-campus students living in dorms has at least tripled since I started working. They've been building dorms constantly since at least 02. One of the reasons for this (at least it was in 2000) was that the state will pay a larger majority of the cost for a dorm, rather than an academic building. So they build dorms, and convert older dorms into academic space. Va Tech has done this extensively since the early 90's, and most of the original dorms except corps of cadet residences are now office space.
As for the ashburn campus, it's not going to be a giant party scene with drunken freshmen staggering through peoples lawns while trying to find the next party. I doubt that there will be any residential dorms, and the vast majority of the facilities there will be geared towards a few undergrad classes, along with popular graduate programs (MBA, MIT, MEd). Undergrad students may take a few gen ed classes out there, but they're still going to have to go to the fairfax campus to get the majority of their coursework out of the way. It's very lucrative though to have evening classes for various masters programs out in that area, because there's a large population out in that part of the NoVa region who could benefit from it, and more importantly work for large corporations who would be willing to pay for it. George Washington University has mastered the art of this, and in some cases offers MBA's where they bring hte professors into the company's facilities, rather than have the employees go to a university sattelite campus.

[car54]

I agree that GMU's rep as a "commuter school" is outdated. I regularly cut through the Fairfax campus and on the weekend that students return, there are LOTS of out-of-state cars about.

Another thing is that a fair number of students that live in the area choose to live on campus even though they could easily commute.

[jvsmith0]

When is the GMU in Ashburn, Va expected to open?

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by jvsmith0

When is the GMU in Ashburn, Va expected to open?

Funny you should ask this. I was just wondering the same thing yesterday. Anyone know?

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Where exactly is this property?

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

Where exactly is this property?

It's in Broadlands, near Greenway exit 6 (which is where the terminal Silver Line Metro stop will be).

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Could you be a little more specific? How near is it to the gas station on Loudoun County Pkway at exit 6?

[cdmurphy]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

Could you be a little more specific? How near is it to the gas station on Loudoun County Pkway at exit 6?

The Exxon on Loudoun County Parkway is off exit 7. There is another Exxon off exit 6 - Mooreview Parkway/Ashburn Village Boulevard (the Exxon is in Ryan Park shopping center).

The GMU property is on the other side of the Greenway from Ryan Park. It is situated between Demott Drive and the Greenway, south of Waxpool Road, northwest of the Broadlands wetlands preservation area off Mooreview Parkway.

[CAVA1990]

So what happened to this?