Gavin Barnes, with help from mom, Deborah Barnes, to his right, move his belongings into campus housing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Barnes is from Dixon, Tenn.UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT NUMBERSNumbers for the 2014 fall class aren’t available yet, but here are the ones from 2013:• Dalton State College: 6,195• Middle Tennessee State University: 18,403• East Tennessee State University: 10,234• University of Tennessee at Chattanooga: 11,674• University of Tennessee at Knoxville: 21,033Source: Various schools
A student moves through the stairwell at Lockmiller Apartments at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.Most parents who’ve dropped off their child at college know that Moving Day, especially freshman year, is about more than just moving furniture and clothes. It’s moving out and moving on, too.
“I held it together until we got in the car [to come home],” says Barbara McGirl, a teacher at Notre Dame High School.
She and husband Jim dropped off Nick, the youngest of three, two weeks ago at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The McGirls have been through it two other times with daughters Lindsey and Natalie, but that didn’t make dropping off the baby of the family any easier.
“On the ride home, my husband said, ‘I didn’t think it would be this emotional.'”