A presentation by university officials to Carrboro’s Board of Aldermen at a meeting earlier this month showed that two-thirds of UNC students living in Carrboro were graduate students.

The presentation, given by UNC’s executive director of Off-Campus Student Life Aaron Bachenheimer and director of Housing and Residential Education Allan Blattner, also showed that the number of UNC students living in Carrboro has not changed since the year 2000.

Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle says that this information runs contrary to the perception of the town.

“There’s a perception that the students are coming, and that we’re tearing down these mill houses and building big houses. And I think there is some truth to that, certainly we’ve seen that in a few places in town we’re trying to address that,” says Lavelle. “But I think it really represents a shift in certain spots or places where students might be renting.”

Lavelle says one of the reasons for this perception could simply be more students spending their free time in Carrboro.

“Maybe more students hang out in Carrboro and then go home to Chapel Hill or Orange County or wherever they live,” she says. “Because we certainly know that with the increase in restaurants and eating establishments, and always with the Cradle and Weaver Street and so forth, that we have a significant number of undergrads and graduate students that like to come over to Carrboro to hang out.”

This presentation comes a few months after the board voted to create an overlay district around the Lloyd-Broad neighborhood in an effort to protect the neighborhood’s identity.

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