Students are scrambling to secure off-campus housing for next year after the university’s recent announcement that on-campus housing will be limited to first-year and second-year undergraduate students for the 2024-25 academic year.
The Office of Residence Life sent an email to all rising juniors and seniors Sept. 28, informing them that the university does “not anticipate any availability in on-campus housing at Hawk Hill for rising junior and senior students for the 2024-25 academic year.”
Because of the limited availability of convenient and affordable off-campus housing near both the Hawk Hill and University City campuses, lease agreements often need to be locked in almost a year in advance. Many students who had not yet begun their search when the Sept. 28 email arrived, either because they had not solidified plans for the following year or thought they had time, panicked, anticipating an even more competitive search for limited inventory.
The news shocked Kenny Adenusi ’26.
“They just threw everything on top of us all at once,” Adenusi said. “They sent the email saying that there’s going to be no upperclassmen housing for juniors and seniors, and that just threw us into the mix. We have to get our apartments now? It just became a whole rushed process. Now everyone’s just scattered.”
Since 2020, between 5% and 8% of St. Joe’s residential population has been made up of juniors and seniors, wrote Jessica Moran-Buckridge, Ed.D., associate dean of Residence Life, in response to written questions from the Hawk. In any given year, Residence Life can usually accommodate just over 2,300 residents.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, a housing lottery for rising juniors and seniors offered about 104 on campus housing spots. Most students who received a spot were notified in mid-November. Moran Buckridge said there may still be some housing available for juniors and seniors next academic year, but the Office of Residence Life wanted to make students aware of the limited availability early.
“Though we will not know for sure how many incoming first-year students will live on campus until mid summer, we would offer vacancies in first-year housing to juniors and seniors at that time,” Moran Buckridge said. “But, we of course realize that juniors and seniors may need to make off-campus housing arrangements much earlier than that, so we wanted to make sure impacted students were aware of their housing options as early as possible this academic year.”
Additionally, Moran-Buckridge said some housing may be available at UCity for Hawk Hill juniors and seniors. One residence hall will remain open at the UCity campus, the Living & Learning Commons (LLC).
“We may be able to offer some housing placements in the LLC at UCity for Hawk Hill students if they are interested and feel comfortable managing the commute between the two locations,” Moran-Buckridge said.
Moran-Buckridge said both Moore Hall and Sullivan Hall will be offered as active housing locations next year.
Specialty residences on the Hawk Hill campus, such as Hogan Hall, St. Albert’s Hall and Xavier Hall will continue to be used, although the Office of Residence Life does not guarantee housing for students in these residences.
Hogan Hall currently houses students in the Collegiate Recovery Program, St. Albert’s Hall houses students in the Autism Support Promoting Inclusive and Responsive Education (ASPIRE) Program and Xavier Hall houses transfer students.
These programs manage an independent selection and assignment process for these specialized communities,” Moran-Buckridge said.
However, Moran-Buckridge said Residence Life “may seek to prioritize students with specific needs, such as [students in] these programs.”
Taylor Moran, recovery program manager for the Office of Student Outreach and Support, said Hogan Hall will remain an option for students in all years “as long as they meet the requirements for being in recovery from substances.”
“We don’t anticipate any changes for housing after the university’s announcement,” Moran said.
That announcement prompted an increase in student attendance at the Oct. 5 Off-Campus Housing Fair, which invited representatives from nine different local apartment complexes to set up tables and answer questions about their properties. These groups included the Apartments at Penn, Fitler Properties LLC and the Westfield Apartments.
Linda Spina, a representative from Apartments at Penn, which owns multiple locations throughout UCity, said she noticed the fair had more student attendees this year.
While Spina had heard about the university’s announcement, five of the nine representatives at the event said they were not aware that more upper-level students would be seeking housing next year.
Victoria Rizzolino, management support specialist for Main Line Apartments, said Main Line Apartments would not change their pricing because of the university’s announcement. Currently, rent at the Oakwynne House location is between $1,710 and $2,430, depending on the floor plan.
“It hasn’t affected pricing, but we have seen an increase of [student] rentals,” Rizzolino said.
In the end, Xavier Slaughter ’26 said he understands the university’s position but also empathizes with students.
“It’s stressful, especially balancing that with school,” Slaughter said.
Hannah Pajtis ’26, Luke Sanelli ’26 and Zach Podolnick ’26 contributed to this article.
MAP INFORMATION COMPILED BY: SAVANNAH WARNER ’24 AND LUKE SANELLI ’26
MAP GRAPHICS: ALLY ENGELBERT ’25/THE HAWK
