When I was in high school I had this ancient teacher who went to his Ivy right after the war with all the GIs, and they had them sleeping in military surplus bunk beds in the hockey rink, barracks-style.

Follow the ratings for Best College Dorms by Princeton Review and Niche. DC chose WashU for its dorm and quality of life, among others. As a freshman class of '29 got a single in a quad suite with 2 full bathrooms. Bathrooms cleaned weekly by janitorial staff.

https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=best-college-dorms

https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-college-dorms/

Northeastern too (putting 3 people in doubles and 2 people in singles, some in a hotel, and, Boston off-campus apartments are wicked expensive). I think many schools got in the habit of over acceptance after covid. Kids deferred, amd then they were over crowded the next year and it never went away. We all accepted the overcrowding - because what were we going to do, tell our kids not to go where they wanted/were accepted?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good question to ask when touring schools or when reps visit.

I was surprised how few upperclassmen at U Mich live on campus. When you have huge universities, they just don’t have a lot of housing stock relative to the size of the student population

Most upperclassmen don't live on campus in general - unless it's a tiny SLAC.

In some areas like Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara there is a severe shortage of rental housing. The kids can’t find off campus even if they go to the very top of their budget and live with many room mates. The county or city around Santa Barbara is actually suing the
UC Regents for not building more housing. In Santa Cruz, it’s the opposite, the locals will protest any new buildings even on University land. It’s crazy.

UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara are the worst.

Anonymous wrote:UC Santa Cruz

for real!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good question to ask when touring schools or when reps visit.

I was surprised how few upperclassmen at U Mich live on campus. When you have huge universities, they just don’t have a lot of housing stock relative to the size of the student population

Most upperclassmen don't live on campus in general - unless it's a tiny SLAC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good question to ask when touring schools or when reps visit.

I was surprised how few upperclassmen at U Mich live on campus. When you have huge universities, they just don’t have a lot of housing stock relative to the size of the student population

Why though? Has the student population grown quickly? Are dorms a net loss for schools because kids don’t pay enough to cover the costs? I get that city schools might not have the space to add but why haven’t schools in college towns added the dorm capacity they need?

You could look up the actual numbers, but Umich has added like 15,000 students in the past 25 years and only added something like 1500 dorm rooms during that time. Plus when you add students, you add supporting staff. Plus the university hospital system has expanded. Plus until the last few years you had an anti-development city council and NIMBY voters. Housing in Ann Arbor is a mess.

It's getting fixed. For fall 2026 several new Umich dorms are coming online (~2300 beds). A second phase of new dorms (timeline not announced) will add another 2000+ beds. City council has turned over and there's been and will continue to be large-scale housing construction. Lots of private student-focused high-rises -- a few thousand beds in the past few years and another 5000 beds opening in the next 3 years.

I don't think Umich has been the total nightmare that some other schools have been, but for anyone other than freshman the choices have been nasty slum stuff within walking distance, nicer and cheaper places farther out that mean a commute (decent bus system), or the expensive high-rises.

I personally am hopeful all the new construction will help Ann Arbor as a whole, not just Umich students.

(Parent of Umich undergrad who lives in Detroit suburbs and follows Ann Arbor housing issues.)

UC Santa Cruz

Why though? Has the student population grown quickly? Are dorms a net loss for schools because kids don’t pay enough to cover the costs? I get that city schools might not have the space to add but why haven’t schools in college towns added the dorm capacity they need?