Sept. 15, 2014
Samantha Morley
[email protected]
Despite the record-setting increase in freshmen and first-year students, housing availability on campus this year has been the best in several semesters.
As of the census date, overall occupancy is at 98 percent and there is no waitlist. Ralph Giese, director of Residence Life and Housing, said that they placed all everyone that was on the waitlist
“We do have some beds available. Unfortunately the gender mix [wasn’t] right which [was] why we [had] a waitlist,” he said.
Current numbers indicate that male occupancy is at 48.7 percent and female occupancy at 51.2 percent.
“People who were patient and stayed on the waitlist, they got the housing they wanted here on campus,” Giese said.
The general rule is that freshmen under the age of 20 and with less than 30 completed credit hours are required to stay in campus housing for their first year. But there are exemptions to the rule.
Students who have a domestic partnership and/ or families can opt to live in apartments or houses that are within the radius of El Paso, Pueblo, Teller or Douglas counties.
“It’s a very drivable and commutable distance,” Giese said. Several students find housing in nearby apartment complexes such as The Lodges, Rosemont at Shadow Mountain Apartments, Sunset Creek Apartments and Quail Run Apartments.
Giese has communicated with The Lodges because a large number of their residents are students.
“The majority of their occupants were UCCS students,” he said. “So I think that helped a lot with upperclass folks who still wanted that kind of environment and be close to campus.”
The Lodges offers individual leases instead of one lease per apartment. Unlike other complexes, students cannot split the price of the space among themselves. Instead, they are charged individually.
“Sometimes that scares people,” Giese said.
Students have also chosen options such as living at Quail Run Apartments, which offers special discounts. They offer a full-time student discount of $20 off of monthly rent.
Office manager Icy Christian estimates that out of 136 units about 3 percent of tenants are students. Rent ranges from $700-800 for one bedroom and $850-920 for two bedrooms.
Sunset Creek Apartments is also a popular location for students. The community caters 40 homes specifically for UCCS. An additional 60-70 percent of tenants are students.
A shuttle also commutes directly from the university to Sunset Creek. Admin fees are waived for students and there are sometimes discounts for the move in. Rent ranges from $788-1180.
There is a more traditional option for students as well. Rosemont at Shadow Mountain Apartments offers two, three and four bedroom spaces for applicants of all sorts. Rent is $935, $1090 and $1245 respectively. They are not specifically dedicated or oriented to students.
“We don’t advertise to them, but we’re so close to the college that they automatically come,” spokesperson Belinda Joslyn said. She estimates that students take up 80 percent of the standard units.
The shuttle bus for the university is located across the street in the Four Diamonds lot.