Just months before opening, Malibu anticipated 800 students for the 1972 fall term. Over half that number would be freshmen.¹

With less than 50 days to go, the campus was still a construction site: the science building was nearly finished and the library was just weeks away from completion, but the dorms were still a work in progress. Malibu provost Jerry Hudson quipped to The Graphic, "We hope the beds arrive before the students."¹

In fact, fall enrollment at Malibu would top 850, with 475 freshmen.²