Cal Poly plans to enroll 25,000 students by 2030. The enrollment goal marks over a 50% increase from when Kennedy Library opened its doors 45 years ago. However, the study spaces have not kept up with the growing population.
READ MORE: Cal Poly wants to enroll 25k students by 2030
With the current student body, students still feel like it can be difficult to find a place to study.
James Fong, an environmental protection and management senior, noted that it’s especially difficult for computer spaces.
“If I need to run software, it’s really hard to do like on your MacBooks or personal laptops,” Fong said with one eye on the computer space, waiting for a seat to open up.
“In this entire giant ass library that they like refurbished or whatever for the last how many years?” Fong said. “There’s only a set amount of computer spots.”
Fong said he feels confident the population increase will impact students’ abilities to comfortably study.
“I would definitely say that the study spaces are going to be more crammed 100%. It’s going to be a little bit more competitive, obviously,” Fong said. “I know that the new incoming freshmen and other students are going to have a harder time finding those resources.”
Olive Passaro, a landscape architecture freshman, noted that finding a seat becomes more difficult later into the evening. The top three floors close at 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 6 p.m. on Fridays.
“Once it’s past 8 p.m., it’s kind of hard,” Passaro said. “I feel like it would be nice to have a little more, given the space that the library has.” Prior to the renovation, students had access to half the first floor of the library as a 24-hour hub.
Dayton Duong, an agriculture business freshman, said he does not think there are enough study spots for the student population. He believes Cal Poly’s plan reinforces the need for more study spaces.
“I think if they want to enroll more students, they need to definitely have capacity for that,” Duong said.
Kennedy Library’s renovation
Kennedy Library shut down in 2023 for a $78 million renovation and reopened in fall 2025.
The library had 2,400 study spaces prior to its closure in 2023, according to previous Mustang News coverage. However, they only added 300 additional study spaces during the renovation.
READ MORE: Cal Poly Kennedy Library returns after completion of two-year transformation
Even with the renovation, Leah Tanner, a psychology senior, does not feel an improvement in seating.
“When I was a freshman, the library had more seats,” Tanner said. “They were more concentrated, but there were more spots to sit. Now there’s more space, and it looks nicer, but there’s not enough spots.”
Cal Poly’s expansion plans
Cal Poly is currently building six to seven high-rise residence halls in preparation for the enrollment increase. The first new building will be finished this summer and will be seven stories and have 500 beds, according to previous Mustang News coverage.
READ MORE: Cal Poly’s new modular residence halls rise on campus
Some students believe the increase in dorms calls for more study spaces near them.
Duong said he believes additional students require additional study spaces. He said that another library near the dorms would benefit students.
Tanner said she thinks the yakʔitʸutʸu dorms have great study spaces and think future dorms should mirror that.
“I feel like a big thing with this library is it’s very out of the way for everyone,” Tanner said. “And so having different study spaces on a different part of campus would be beneficial.”
Cal Poly in comparison
However, one library per campus is completely normal for Cal States. All 23 Cal State universities only have one library. UC campuses, on the other hand, have anywhere from one to 24 libraries. Only three UCs have one library.
Although Cal Poly’s study spaces are not abnormal when looking toward similar schools, students still compare.
“I feel like one serves Cal Poly well enough with the amount of people that do use it,” Tanner said. “But my brother goes to the University of Washington, and they have like six libraries and hearing about that, it would be nice.”