Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 21:47     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:
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.


Not true. Most of the ivies have on campus housing all 4 years.


Yes, and most Ivies are tiny schools...
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 17:21     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:UC Santa Barbara has (or had) students living in cars. Completely unacceptable.


Isn’t that also due to costs of housing in the area?
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 17:20     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:4 years of guaranteed housing was a really important criteria for us, DC still applied to and was accepted at several that didn't have it. UMich the freshmen start having to deal with it early in their first year as they have to commit to roommates and apartments early in spring semester. Rice has Juniors move off campus and then move back as seniors and many schools (including Georgetown) have triples in room intended as singles.


That's weird re: Rice. So Freshmen, Soph and Seniors have to live on campus but not juniors? Is that study abroad is so popular?
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 15:20     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:Wisconsin does not guarantee housing after freshman year but there seems to be a good number of off campus housing options . I read somewhere that it’s normal for UC Santa Cruz kids to live in cars .


Madison has a ton of new apartment buildings that went up. So the more moderate but still nice buildings are decently priced. I have another kid in Seattle - plenty of housing but pricier. However,you can live in the dorms as an upper class person. My child was abroad for part of Sophomore year and came back and live in a dorm for the other part.

Purdue does have a horrible dorm shortage and the dorms they stuff them in are abysmal. Have heard bad things about Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Berkely as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 15:10     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
UC Santa Barbara has (or had) students living in cars. Completely unacceptable.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 15:04     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:Also at some schools they may just not feel there's demand for more upperclassman housing it's a big gamble to have hundreds of vacant rooms


This, at most state schools it’s expected to move off campus after freshman or sophomore year.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 15:00     Subject: Re:Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara are the worst.


And Berkeley.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 14:58     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Auburn
College of Charleston
University of Tampa
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 14:49     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
most of them. seriously. nearly all of them.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:59     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:UMass Amherst


Could you expand on that?
https://offcampushousing.umass.edu/housing Have a gander at these prices. The town is run by 70 year olds who hate students and want the place to look like it did when they were children. They get mad both when private developers try building apartments in town and when the university tries building dorms on its own land. It's horrid
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:56     Subject: Re:Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara are the worst.


What about UCLA’s “guaranteed housing” in triples for 4 years?
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:55     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:UMass Amherst


Could you expand on that?
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:48     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
UMass Amherst
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:45     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
4 years of guaranteed housing was a really important criteria for us, DC still applied to and was accepted at several that didn't have it. UMich the freshmen start having to deal with it early in their first year as they have to commit to roommates and apartments early in spring semester. Rice has Juniors move off campus and then move back as seniors and many schools (including Georgetown) have triples in room intended as singles.
Anonymous
Post 01/27/2026 13:36     Subject: Colleges with Housing Shortages
Anonymous wrote:Most schools where my kid applied did not guarantee on campus housing after the first year. A few didn't even guarantee it for freshman year. Coming from a SLAC in the 90s, that seemed so weird to me at first. I was on campus for 3 years and could have been there all 4, but I really, really wanted to live in an apt. my senior year. My kid is at UM and when I asked if they wanted to apply for sophomore housing, they were adamant that they did not. Most kids actually do want to live off campus. I think the dorm is really a good way to start freshman year b/c there is less responsibility and it gives kids an easy way to make friends. However, I can completely understand why living off campus after freshman year is appealing. It is pretty much the norm.


Fair point, but I wonder if this is a chicken/egg thing. If there was more of a culture of living on campus for two or three years, maybe more students would want to do it. If UM is like UVA, students hear (from friends and friends of friends ) that they need to find second year housing early in their first year so they do. The school has some upper class housing, but not enough and no way to know if you’ll get anything close to what you reasonably want.

In my view, there is plenty of time to live in apartments and I think there’s value to a school
Culture where students live in school housing for at least two years. And it doesn’t need to be fancy. Plenty of time for that, too.