Thanks to the high cost of housing in Metro Vancouver and significant expansions to on-campus student living spaces, more first-year University of British Columbia students are now choosing to live on campus.
This year, a record 4,000 first-year UBC students will be making their home on the school’s Vancouver campus, according to UBC. The school has over 9,400 spaces for on-campus living, which is the most of any Canadian university. UBC guarantees on-campus residence for first-year students, and they say more and more students are taking them up on the opportunity each year.
Affordability is a prime factor in students opting to live in residence. A typical UBC apartment-style dorm room will run students $788 per month, including utilities (Internet, cable, heat, and electricity), while a commuter student will pay on average $800 to $900 for the same kind of shared-living set-up off-campus, but must also consider the cost in dollars and time of commuting, whether by car or public transit.
UBC touts that students who live on campus say they do better socially and academically, and for first-year students this speaks to the power of immersion into college life. “When you live in residence, you are more connected with the university and your peers,” notes UBC.
With so many students wanting to live on campus, UBC has been working to make sure this can happen for more people. The school “added 600 spots last year, and have another 555 spaces opening next year and another 1,050 sports in 2016.” Tentative plans provide for up to 4,000 more beds to be made available between 2017 and 2023. That’s over 15,000 people living at UBC!
Housing is such a vital part of UBC campus life the school runs its own student housing Twitter feed, and put out a YouTube video showing incoming students what to expect when they move onto campus.
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Featured image: Marine Residence at UBC (Tlaloc Xicotencatl via Flickr)
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