Plan for Uptown Housing in 2023-24 and Beyond

As a long-standing university policy (including Fall 2022), every new, first-year student who fully completes their housing application by the deadline of May 3, 2023, (and also completes commensurate requirements for enrollment) is provided a bed in the UC Housing portfolio unless they voluntarily opt to forego or delay their stay in UC Housing.  

This guarantee to new, first-year students has been consistently achieved for the last decade, thanks to housing provided in the campus core, leases in adjacent apartment communities, hotel spaces and other avenues.

Let’s also remember that Calhoun Hall, UC’s largest residence hall, reopened in January and is now another option and opportunity for students. 

Ongoing and upcoming housing development projects are listed below, including Siddall Hall, Bellevue Gardens and more.

For the incoming class of Fall 2023, Uptown housing near the academic core of campus will see greater prioritization for first-year students in the incoming class. This is designed to further help with successful acclimation to university life during a key transition period for them. This prioritization has been communicated to both incoming and returning students, and we expect that approximately 6,000 UC Housing beds will be available for incoming, first-year students, in line with expected interest.

As a long-standing university guarantee (which we are continuing for our incoming class of Fall 2023), any new, first-year student who fully completes the housing application by the deadline and also completes commensurate requirements for enrollment is guaranteed a bed in university-managed housing. The housing application for new students opened on January 23, and the deadline is May 3 for fully completing the new, first-year student application and receiving the guarantee of a bed in university-managed housing.

While most returning students opt for private housing in the local community as they tend to be more familiar with private housing options, a UC housing application option for returning students opened in early February. The process for students returning to live in university-managed housing for the 2023-24 year has not changed since first communicated and has always required returning students to fill out a student housing application and await assignment on a first-come, first-served basis in terms of university-managed beds, mostly within university leases near campus.

Let’s remember that teaching, learning, classes and events also take place in what was once traditionally considered adjacent or near campus and have done so for several years now. For instance, Probasco Hall on the west side of Clifton Avenue contains university classrooms and auditorium space; the DAAP Annex, also on the west side of Clifton Avenue, holds studio, work and exhibit space for students; and university offices and services are provided on the south side of Calhoun Avenue.  

And let’s also remember that UC students pursue their learning-and-earning co-ops and internships throughout the city, region, state and nation. UC was the global founder of co-op in 1906 and since that time, as the nation’s No. 1 co-op program at a U.S. public university, UC has consistently and successfully integrated campus with community learning opportunities thanks to our “hire learning” model.

Returning students who have fully completed a housing application and were accepted into university-managed housing are guaranteed a bed for the 2023-24 year. Other returning students interested in university-managed housing submitted a request to be placed on a waitlist within the housing portal. That waitlist originally stood at about 1,500 but is now at 0 students. As of June 30, all students on the original waitlist have now been offered university-managed housing. 

Those who opted to go onto the returning student waitlist are not asked to commit any application fee unless or until a space is available and they are invited to complete the application. Waitlisted returning students are encouraged to also seek housing in the region’s private market as another option. 

The returning student waitlist closed in March. That waitlist originally stood at about 1,500 but is now at 0 students. As of June 30, all students on the original waitlist have now been offered university-managed housing. 

Returning students on the UC Housing waitlist are generally offered university-managed housing and move off the waitlist based on their time and date of placement on the list – in other words, first come, first served.

As university-managed housing becomes available to returning students on the waitlist, those students offered the available housing are sent two emails (an invitation and a reminder to act) several days apart. Students may accept or decline the offered housing.

If students do not respond to these two emails, they are subsequently removed from the waitlist.

Importantly, if a student later realizes they missed the emailed offers of university-managed housing or later realize they missed the deadline to respond, they may contact UC Housing at uchousing@uc.edu to be reinstated to the returning student housing waitlist. They will then be reinstated to their previous waitlist slot.

The renewal student waitlist originally stood at about 1,500 but is now at 0 students. As of June 30, all students on the original waitlist have now been offered university-managed housing. 

That number fluctuates. In 2022-23, approximately 2,600 UC students at the sophomore level and above opted to live in university-managed housing.

Approximately 1,500 returning students fully completed a housing application and were accepted into university-managed housing in early February and are guaranteed a bed for the 2023-24 year. Other students, about 1,500 or so originally, put themselves on a returning student waitlist for university-managed housing. That waitlist originally stood at about 1,500 but is now at 0 students. As of June 30, all students on the original waitlist have now been offered university-managed housing. 

For the incoming class of Fall 2023, housing in the central core of campus will see greater prioritization for first-year students in the incoming class. This is designed to further help with successful acclimation to university life during a key transition period for them. This prioritization has been communicated to both incoming and returning students, and we expect that approximately 6,000 UC Housing beds will be reserved for incoming, first-year students, in line with expected demand.

Across the nation, there are universities experiencing increasing demand for housing. Just like at UC, there are a variety of factors contributing to this increased interest. UC has enjoyed rising enrollment in the past decade, a combination of both online and in-person. Also, we know anecdotally that there is interest from local students, whose families live within commuting distance, to reside in Uptown. 

Finally, across the nation and at UC, ultimate housing demand is difficult to project the further out in time from fall term we are. One reason would be that incoming, first-year students often make commitments to several schools before making a decision.

• Siddall Hall is currently being renovated on an expedited timeline and will be ready for occupancy in Fall 2024, containing more than 500 beds.
  
• In partnership with Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, the university is planning an approximately 1,000-bed development in the vacant lots across Calhoun Avenue from Old Saint George Church. Construction is expected to begin late 2023 and be complete by Spring 2026.
  
• Bellevue Gardens, adjacent to UC’s Uptown Campus-East, currently houses 96 students but plans call for renovation and reconfiguration of the site in order to house a total of 450 students. Approximately half those beds will be available by Spring 2026 and the remaining half by Fall 2026.  

• A private developer is building apartments capable of housing approximately 400 people along Central Parkway at Marshall Avenue. The project is underway and should be completed in time for the 2024-2025 school year.
  
• A private developer is building student housing near Straight Street and Clifton Avenue to provide approximately 1,100 Uptown beds for student housing, with completion expected in summer 2024.
  
• A private developer is currently building apartments to provide housing for approximately 400 at McMillan, Lyon and Moerlein streets. Completion date has not yet been published.
  
•  A private developer is currently renovating property at 237 William Howard Taft Road in order to provide between 285-335 beds for student housing, with availability expected by Fall 2024.

UC already seeks to lease the existing high-capacity locales in the neighborhoods around the university that meet specifications for systems like fire suppression, for scheduled maintenance, etc. One drawback, however, to that practice is that it potentially reduces available apartments for our existing students, which can create upward pressure on rental prices for all students that utilize the private housing market.

The university continues to monitor demand for housing throughout the spring semester and will finalize its portfolio for the next academic year sometime early summer, at the latest. The university housing website maintains a list of available communities for students and families to review at any time.

Fees for university-managed housing are not determined by location but by individual room occupancy level and room type.

And any student with extenuating circumstances related to their housing assignment, such as financial exigency or a disability requiring a certain location, may contact the appropriate office – such as the Financial Aid office, Accessibility Resources or Housing to discuss and review their specific needs.

As the global founder of cooperative education, UC houses the nation’s largest mandatory co-op program. U.S. News & World Report ranks UC’s co-op program in the Top 4 in the country (No. 1 among public institutions), and our students earn a collective $75 million annually via their co-op work placements, alternating academic semesters with professional, paid work directly tied to their majors. The average earnings in the university's mandatory, full-time co-op programs comes to about $10,500 per student each semester. This “earn while you learn” and “hire education” model has been copied by more than 1,000 universities in over 40 countries.

We prepare students for a future that is digital, accessible and inclusive. For instance, for our students, our Bearcat Promise means each student will graduate with a diploma in one hand and a clear path to a career or further education in the other in academic areas that encompass science, medicine, business, education, engineering, technology, the humanities and the arts. Specific and cross-disciplinary areas of focus include analytics, digital media, precision cancer medicine, water and urban futures.

UC is home to a number of Ohio Centers of Excellence where faculty research as well as their scholarly and creative endeavors serves to advance innovation and entrepreneurial activity as well as draw gifted students seeking to augment and apply their skills. The university is home to Ohio Centers of Excellence dedicated to advanced energy and sustaining the urban environment; transforming healthcare in the 21st century; intelligent air and space vehicle energy systems; nanoscale sensor technology; design and innovation; and music and theater arts.

Many UC faculty members have been awarded significant honors at the local, state, national and international levels. These include numerous National Science Foundation Career awards as well as Fulbright awards and Guggenheim grants. UC faculty and their work routinely receive support from the Ohio Board of Regents, Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, U.S. EPA, National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Geographic Society, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and many others.

Our drive to invent in and beyond the classroom has been the source of many breakthrough contributions, including the oral polio vaccine and the first antihistamine. In fiscal year 2022, the university and its affiliates – renowned for premier patient care, health-related research and training of health care professionals – spent a a record $615 million on research, part of the university's commitment to discovery and innovation.

The National Science Foundation places UC at No. 33 among America’s public research universities, and 51st in the nation in research spending among all institutions, topping counterparts such as Princeton University, the University of Kentucky and the University of Georgia. Moreover, UC is one of only 130 institutions classified as housing the very highest activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education

U.S. News & World Report ranks UC in the Top Tier of America’s Best Colleges, including the latest 2023 rankings which placed the university at No. 68 "most innovative among national universities." In addition, Reuters named UC among the world’s top 100 most-innovative universities, one of only 46 U.S. universities to make that prestigious list.

Such rankings are earned as the university fosters early stage research and launches start-up companies via  an expanding  innovation incubator, the 1819 Innovation Hub, providing a key location amidst Cincinnati’s rising Innovation Corridor. The UC innovation hub is the nexus for business and industry to partner with university faculty and students. Partnering with UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub are a wide range of visionaries: From seed-stage investors like CincyTech (one of the most active in the nation) to established corporations like Procter & Gamble.

Our campus setting garners worldwide acclaim, with The New York Times highlighting UC’s dramatic campus renovation of the past quarter century “the most ambitious campus design program in the country.” In addition, Forbes, Delta Sky and Travel + Leisure magazines have all highlighted UC as one of the world’s most beautiful campuses. It’s also a sustainable one where all new construction and major renovations are completed to LEED Silver standards or higher whenever possible.

The University of Cincinnati will officially enter the Big 12 as a conference member on July 1, 2023. The University of Cincinnati Department of Athletics competes at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics with the vision to reach Next Level Success for all 18 varsity teams and more than 500 student-athletes. The Bearcats have a proud athletics history, winning eight national championships and 117 conference titles. The Cincinnati men's basketball team is among the 15 winningest programs of all-time, while the football team became the first American Athletic Conference program to compete in the College Football Playoff in 2021. Olympic gold medalist volleyball player Jordan Thompson, NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson and Major League Baseball legend Sandy Koufax are among the several luminaries who have competed as Bearcats.

Interest in the University of Cincinnati is owed to a set of strengths that other institutions may be able to claim singley but few others can claim as the cohesive combination that has been built at UC:

Access to a university education is key for our citizens as a means to increase economic mobility among our incoming cohorts, which have never been more diverse nor more academically prepared. Opening pathways to education can significantly enhance the trajectory for an entire generation. At UC, we are especially proud of the work we have done to increase admissions for a wide array of students, including first-generation students, who make up a quarter of our total enrollment.

Overall, in Fall 2022, the UC student body was at its most diverse ever with students of color representing 25.5%. Just from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022, the university saw its Black undergraduate population increase by 11% while its Latinx undergraduate population grew by 14%.  

We not only admit a diverse, academically prepared class, we seek to surround them with support services, including academic advising, mentoring, career coaching, community connection, and we offer housing – this latter most specifically during the key transition from high school to that first year of college.