tristatecoog wrote:6000 students on campus now and 8000 by fall 2013.
Those numbers will still make you a commuter school. Look around for numbers and saw freshmen are not guaranteed housing and only about 15% of students live on campus. An extra 2000 for a school your size isn't going to do much. By 2013 SMU will have another 2000+ rooms and require students to be on campus for the first two years and have a residential commons system similar to Rice.
One of these schools is a four year university with a great campus culture, the other is a commuter school with no campus culture. Focus on parking garages, and online classes, those will probably help your school more than pretending it has an actual 24/7 campus experience.