It’s move-in weekend at the University of Connecticut, but hundreds of students who wanted to live on campus can’t yet settle into their dorms. That’s because housing shortages are ramping up in Storrs and Stamford, while enrollment is at record highs.
As of early this week, nearly 300 students, including more than 220 freshmen, were on housing waitlists at UConn’s Storrs and Stamford campuses, according to university data.
The university offered new and returning students thousands of dollars in tuition discounts, parking passes and free meals in exchange for their coveted on-campus beds. Many declined the incentives, leaving their less fortunate classmates to scramble for off-campus apartments or commute to work.
“I have never faced so much uncertainty less than three days into a semester,” said Francelis Matos Maldonado, a rising senior. “There is little to no affordable housing in the area … and now I have to decide to either withdraw completely or take three hours on public transportation to get to college, which is completely unacceptable.”
After spending a year off-campus, Matos Maldonado said she submitted her application for on-campus housing “the day it was available,” but on March 27, Matos Maldonado learned she had been placed on a waitlist. Months later, UConn informed Matos Maldonado on June 12 that there was “no opportunity” for on-campus housing for her, according to emails from the university that Matos Maldonado shared with the Courant.
“There are first-year students who are required to live on campus and for whom we currently do not have space to assign … as a required student group, we must continue to find space for these students,” the email reads. “We do not want to create a false sense of hope that on-campus housing will be available to you.”
In a statement to the Courant, university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said, “UConn received a record number of applications this year and of those admitted, a record number of first-year students were accepted and enrolled for the fall semester.”
According to Reitz, the new students represent “UConn’s largest freshman class ever.”
“All students who applied and met the deadline to apply for housing on the Storrs campus were assigned a room, regardless of whether they were from Connecticut or out of state,” Reitz said. “Students who applied after the deadline were added to a waitlist, which changes almost daily as some students give up their housing and others are removed from the waitlist and offered rooms.”
According to copies of emails from July that students shared with the Courant, UConn’s Residential Life department offered $2,000 to the first 100 students who agreed to cancel their fall housing. All students who accepted the offer would receive a free commuter parking pass and 25 meal vouchers, the emails said.
In the notices, the department said that if a student receiving need-based aid accepted the $2,000, the award “could reduce the amount of loan assistance or other need-based aid available to the student rather than provide additional funding.”
According to the emails, the department said the offers would allow the university to “expand housing to students who live much further from the Storrs campus, and provide the best living experience for all students.”
“At this time, if we try to house all students with an application, we will be using unwanted spaces such as lounges and former staff apartments. In addition, many students will likely be assigned 2 or 3 roommates,” the department said, according to the reports.
A family who spoke to the Courant said their son declined UConn’s $2,000 offer. The family said the student has been assigned to a dormitory that the university converted into a room for four.
An incoming freshman who lives 45 minutes from campus told the Courant that he turned down a similar offer for a parking pass and meal vouchers in June, but without the $2,000.
Other students said they had received offers to upgrade their dormitory to an apartment rented by the university, so there would be more space for first-year students.
Reitz said UConn had contacted 1,600 new students and 7,400 returning students, asking them to “consider canceling their housing applications” in exchange for incentives.
“Hundreds of students cancel their housing assignments too late each year, either because they choose other housing arrangements or because they withdraw their enrollment decision. This incentive was intended to speed up a process that already takes place annually and thus reduce the waiting list more quickly,” Reitz said.
Daniel Bokshan, a rising junior at Storrs, said: “The value of the trade is terrible.”
“There is no on-campus housing and off-campus housing is extremely expensive,” said Bokshan, who declined the $2,000 offer.
Bokshan described what he saw as an “over-admission of students” as “irresponsible,” “greedy” and the source of UConn’s “major housing problems.”
In her statement to the Courant, Reitz called UConn’s record enrollments “a testament to UConn’s reputation for outstanding academic performance, vibrant campuses and the research opportunities available to its students.”
Ahead of the university’s official student census, Reitz said UConn expects total enrollment at Storrs to reach 19,800 this fall. Last year, Storrs’ enrollment was 19,388.
The bulk of the increase comes from UConn’s growing freshman class. Reitz said UConn is expecting 4,500 new freshmen at Storrs — a more than 7 percent increase from the previous class of 4,189. On the Stamford campus, UConn is expecting 950 freshmen, a 52 percent increase from last fall’s 622, according to Reitz.
To keep pace with rising enrollment, Reitz said UConn Storrs added more than 820 beds this semester through the opening of Connecticut Hall, new university-leased apartments in the Oaks and the conversion of lounges to living spaces. In Stamford, the number of beds increased by 197 from last year.
According to Reitz, the total capacity for fall housing is 13,317 in Storrs and 677 in Stamford.
Reitz said UConn converted lounges into quadruple-occupancy rooms during the fall 2023 semester. She said the rooms, which are “inspected to ensure they meet requirements for adequate living space, egress, furniture and other health and safety measures,” will continue to be used as dormitories.
Reitz added that “many students” say “they are happy with their on-campus housing despite being assigned to these unconventional spaces, and that they and their fellow students understand the need for it.”
When asked whether UConn plans to expand on-campus housing in future semesters, Reitz said, “It is too early to predict housing needs for fall 2025, as demand will depend on many factors that are not yet known.”
“Due to a variety of factors, it can be difficult to gauge demand from year to year until the university knows how many students are enrolling, how many of them want to live on campus, and how many are meeting the deadline to apply for housing assignments,” Reitz said. “Given the larger than expected number of students who accepted the university’s enrollment offers this spring, planning was done with those needs in mind.”
Lucy Lyttle, a rising senior, said her “first wake-up call to the reality that the administration was in trouble” came last November, when the university issued and then rescinded a policy that would have reduced UConn’s on-campus housing guarantee from eight semesters to six.
Under the university’s housing contract for 2024-2025, students who meet the application deadline and do not forfeit their housing will still be eligible for eight semesters, or four years, on campus. It also states that “first-year students admitted for fall 2024 will be required to live on campus for the 2024-2025 academic year.”
Although not stated in the contract, a frequently asked questions page on UConn’s Residential Life website states that “Students entering as freshmen (admitted with housing) are guaranteed housing for four semesters” and that “on-campus housing is not guaranteed for four years.”
Lyttle said she couldn’t recall any “major housing issues” during her time living on the Storrs campus before this year.
“I think the whole situation really just reflects a lack of care from the administration,” Lyttle said. “I’m sure they knew when they admitted students that they were going to have trouble housing them all, but they did it anyway. Why?”
“They expected everyone to surrender and give up the housing they had been promised to make up for their mistakes. And that expectation, of course, turned out to be wrong,” Lyttle added.
