Math in the latest draft of Towson University’s master plan for growth doesn’t add up for some residents of the surrounding neighborhoods.

But “just looking at the numbers without putting them in context would be misleading,” said TU spokeswoman Marina Cooper.

TU, which had 19,395 students enrolled on campus last month, expects to have 25,000 students enrolled there by fall of 2018. That’s in addition to another 4,265 students served by TU’s satellite locations and online offerings.

But by 2018, the university will have only 8,075 on-campus beds for Towson and 8,750 parking spaces, according to the plan.

Cooper said the demand for a slot at the school has “skyrocketed because we are such an incredible value.”

The University System of Maryland has designated Towson as a growth institution, she said. Indeed, in fall 2008, the university received 15,700 applications for 2,832 freshmen seats, according to the plan.

The 57-page document can be found on line at www.towson.edu. (Type in “master plan” in the search box.) It employs charts, photos and maps to detail new and proposed construction, plans for a new campus entrance, improved pedestrian access and installation of updated mechanical systems, as well as traffic, parking and housing.

The prospect of 25,000 students by 2018 — and possibly as early as 2016 — concerns representatives of Burkleigh Square, Towson Manor Village, Aigburth Manor and Riderwood Hills, where many TU students traditionally have nested.

It also concerns Knollwood Donnybrook and Rodgers Forge, where TU students are beginning to locate in increasing numbers, and even Wiltondale and Fellowship Forest.

Cooper notes that only 18,813 of the 25,000 students on the campus by 2018 will be fulltime undergraduates, just as only 15,510 of the 19,395 on campus this year are full time.

The remaining students include graduate students, undergraduates taking less than 15 hours a semester and students taking as little as one course, she said.

But neighborhood leaders said they believe more students at TU means more demand for rental housing, more investors buying up homes and converting them into rentals, more absentee landlords and more students clashing with residents due to conflicting lifestyles.

Knollwood Donnybrook resident Bob Vaughan said it’s difficult to have faith in TU’s enrollment projections, considering that the 2003 master projected an annual growth rate of less than one percent for five years — and it turned out to be five percent.

“The university is woefully short on student housing,” he said, “and will continue to put undue pressure on the surrounding communities for the next five years.”

Cooper countered that projections are “always a best guess,” and are subject to the economy and demand.

Karl Pfrommer, who said at the June 15 presentation of the draft of the master plan that nine of the 31 houses on his block are now rentals, said he’s moving to Timonium after living 45 years in Rodgers Forge.

The “No. 1 reason” he is moving, he said, is Towson University.

“I don’t think we’d be as concerned if their behavior was civil,” he said about TU students he has encountered, “ but this a rampant threat on a community.”

Residents said a bigger university also means more students who commute to TU and park in neighborhoods instead of paying $250 a year to park on campus during the day or $95 a year to park evenings.

Calling the master plan and its charts and graphs “a snow job,” Forge resident Carol Zielke asked, “Where else are they going to park but in the neighborhoods?”

Resident also said 25,000 students mean more traffic, too. But on that note, the master plan features a traffic study showing the additional enrollment would still leave intersections surrounding the campus with “acceptable” ratings as far as delays are concerns — except for the intersection of Burke Avenue and York Road, which already is problematic.

Additional students would make that intersection more problematic, according to the plan, but it concludes TU’s growth “will not significantly impact local intersections.”

The plan also notes that TU has taken measures to reduce traffic by adding a Cockeysville route to its Towson shuttle service, providing incentives for carpooling and ridesharing, doubling the number of bike racks, subsidizing transit passes, and setting up pools of cars and bikes that can be borrowed for short-term use

As for parking, TU will add 1,631 spaces to its current 7,279 spaces by fall 2018, according to the plan.

In terms of housing, the university offers 5,495 on-campus beds, including the University Village and Towson Place complexes. By fall of 2018, after the addition of a “Greek” complex and phased in construction of additional dorms in the University West area of campus, there will be 2,580 more beds, according to the plan.

So by 2018, on-campus living will be available to 43 percent of the fulltime undergraduates, instead of 35 percent.

Cooper noted the current phase of construction has been delayed for a year because of the difficulty of obtaining financing. And she also noted that TU’s plan for more dorms may change because of new construction in downtown Towson that will make new apartments and townhouses available to students, as well as other people.

“We can’t ignore that,” she said. “We’ve got competition. We can’t build housing that doesn’t get lived in.”

And TU can’t control where its students decide to live, she said.

“From a university standpoint we don’t think it’s appropriate for students to live in your single-family neighborhoods either,” said Kevin King, whose firm, Ayers St. Gross, is serving as consultants for the master plan.

“Then would it not be appropriate to stop listing them on TU’s rental properties list? “ Pfrommer asked

But Cooper pointed out they are still legally viable options that are preferable to housing situations that are in violation of the zoning laws.

“Obviously, we don’t want to push our students into illegal places,” she said.

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