As students move in, the University of Colorado Boulder expects biggest student body yet

Moving into college is a family affair, and as a dad to a University of Colorado Boulder sophomore, Manuel Montano is ready to help his daughter get ready for the school year.

"We are extremely proud of her," Montano said about his daughter Olga, "She's done so much and come so far, and the sky's the limit for what she's going to do."

The Montano family is just one of many moving into Boulder this weekend, creating what's expected to be a record student population.

"It's still speculative, but I am expecting it to be slightly bigger than ever," CU Chancellor Justin Schwartz said, explaining that the potential record comes largely from returning students, rather than first years.

"We had an increase in applicants of all types, but we were intentional in reducing our target for first-year students, because we're having greater success in retention of our existing students. And so, you know, our commitment when a student comes is to give them every opportunity to succeed," Schwartz said.

And as students roll in, they're also looking through racks of University of Colorado merch, bringing in thousands of dollars to downtown businesses.

Paula Johansen can't stop smiling at the flood of new families coming into her Pearl Street store, BoCo Life.

"This is actually, like, our biggest time of the year," Johansen said, "Sixty percent of my business is CU. So, we've got everything else that's got name drop Colorado or Boulder with some of our really popular vendors, but CU is our bread and butter."

And back in the dorms, there's still another round to unpack as the Boulder community welcomes students in with open arms

"I'll miss my family a lot, but it'll be good. I'm really excited, you know, 'Sko Buffs!" Olga Montano said.