There used to be a time when all-women’s residence halls were the norm for college campuses. In fact, TCU didn’t have its first co-ed residence hall until Brachman Hall opened its doors in 1970.

Now, Colby Hall, the only all-women’s residence hall left on campus for first-year students, is in the middle of undergoing major renovations.

The hall is still on track to reopen as an all-women’s residence hall in time for the 2015 fall semester. The desire to live in an all-women’s residence hall is diminishing among incoming students, said Craig Allen, director of housing and residence life.

Before the renovations, Colby Hall housed a few more than 300 first-year women. Allen said only about 100 of those students chose the “all-women” option as their first preference in Colby Hall’s final year back in 2013.

Last year wasn’t any different with a few more than 100 first-year women choosing the preference to live in an all-women’s residence hall.

Despite the low desire, Allen said he expects the number of first-year women who give preference to Colby Hall next year to increase because of the renovations.

“A lot of it is dictated by the percentages of students,” Allen said. “The nice thing about having a Colby is that it lets us have balance in all the other buildings. If we don’t have an all-female hall there’s actually some challenges in trying to balance.”

While Colby Hall will be an all-women’s option next year, changes could come in the future, he said.

“If students just don’t want an all-female hall then that’s when we’ll have to make a decision,” Allen said. “As long as our gender break down is what it is, it just makes sense.”