University Housing officials are getting help from local landlords as they work to accommodate more incoming freshmen than anticipated this fall in university residence halls.
Starting today, the university is asking several hundred upperclassmen who are planning to return to U-M residence halls in the fall to instead live in apartment buildings close to campus. The voluntary program would help make room in the residence halls for about 300 additional freshmen. The university is communicating directly with the students and their parents about this program.
“We are taking these steps because we believe first-year students who apply for housing should live on campus, to help them with the transition to university life,” says University Housing Director Linda Newman. “We hope our returning residence hall students will appreciate this unique opportunity to use their Housing contract to live in a nearby apartment.”
This fall, the university was planning for about 6,000 freshmen, selected from nearly 50,000 applications. While the size of the freshman class is still fluid, university officials estimate that it will be several hundred students above that target.
To encourage returning students to live off campus, University Housing has secured off-campus spaces in apartment buildings that are close to campus. The university will absorb any additional cost of those leases beyond what students would normally pay for university housing.
Students who agree to the move will maintain their University Housing contracts and instead be assigned an apartment. Those students will have the choice to keep their residence hall meal plans, modify the plan or drop the plan completely.
The three participating apartment complexes already participate in the university’s Beyond the Diag off-campus housing program. Through that program, these complexes will have “neighborhood ambassadors” assigned who will work with students to keep them connected to campus.
Those apartment buildings include:
• The Courtyards for students currently assigned to Bursley Hall on North Campus.
• The Varsity and University Towers for students currently assigned to Central Campus residence halls.
Newman said university officials explored a number of ways to address this situation and determined that securing off-campus apartments “was the most practical, the most manageable and the most attractive to students.”
While the overall cost to the university will not be known for several weeks, Housing officials estimate that the program could cost about $2 million. These one-time costs will be paid using University Housing reserves.
Planning for this program has involved staff from University Housing, Provost’s Office, Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Office of Financial Aid, Office of the General Counsel, Office of Budget and Planning, Office of the Vice President for Global Communications, the Real Estate Office, Financial Operations Tax Office, Procurement and the Dean of Students Office.
