EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. — Hands were full, bins were stacked, and car trunks packed; all signs of college move-in day at East Stroudsburg University.
"I'm pretty excited. Excited to start school again. It's nice to be back and going to class," incoming freshman Julia Frawley said.
"I have done a lot of my gen-ed classes and been working a lot, so definitely a new change, but an exciting change," Jaylin Conard, a transfer student, said.
Parents tell Newswatch 16 that they are hopeful their students will have a much more normal college experience.
"She graduated in 2020 in the height of the pandemic, and so she went off to college, you know, the experience was vastly different. We're hoping this time around the things of change, that she'll have a more normal, traditional, normal experience in college," said New Jersey resident Miguel Saze.
East Stroudsburg University welcomed nearly 1,000 freshman and transfer students. University officials say new student enrollment has bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"That's more than a 40 percent increase over the last year. We're back to our pre-COVID enrollment numbers for new students. We're also welcoming back, on to campus for the first time, about 350 transfer students," interim president Kenneth Long said.
Long says the last time the university had numbers like this was prior to the pandemic.
While the university has relaxed coronavirus restrictions, Long says they'll still keep an eye on the spread.
"It's a good year. It's back to being the new normal. Just be safe, but you know what? We can still do all the things that we used to do, but we can do it in a safe matter," Long said.
Move-in continues throughout the weekend. Classes start Monday.
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