Graduate Student Housing

Graduate student housing is one of UCI's highest priorities. We are constantly working to improve availability. UCI currently houses over 50% of our graduate students, and beginning Fall 2006, UCI is guaranteeing on-campus housing to every newly-admitted, full-time Ph.D. and M.F.A. student. Ph.D. students will be guaranteed housing for a term of one year less than the normative time to degree (NTTD) for their academic program. M.F.A. students will be guaranteed housing for a term of two or three years based on their program's duration.

Eligible students may receive information from their academic program on how to apply; however, you can also access detailed instructions related to this guaranteed housing offer. Students who submit their guaranteed housing interest form by May 1, 2006 will receive an offer in one of four on-campus housing communities; i.e., Palo Verde, Verano Place, Vista del Campo or Vista del Campo Norte.

We at UCI understand that relocating can be a stressful and time consuming proposition and we want to minimize the hassle of this process by providing most of our first-year graduate students on-campus housing as our way of helping to ease your transition to this new community of scholars. If you check, we believe you will find that UC Irvine is one of very few research universities who will make this guarantee to you for on-campus housing, so act now. Completing the necessary steps detailed in the link above, and by the deadlines established, will help you to secure this special housing. We strongly suggest you start this process today if applicable.

Housing in any metropolitan area is always in high demand. The good news about attending a University of California campus is that these dynamic academic entities are major economic drivers within their local community and the state. Businesses thrive as the university drives new technologies, high-tech manufacturing, service industries, jobs, and yes, even housing. Since jobs are more plentiful here than in most other areas, there are more people desiring to live here. This scenario can make securing off-campus housing a challenge that is best addressed as early as possible. Often, single students choose to share housing as a means of lowering expenses. Housing is especially acute for married students or students with dependent children, who may not have the option of sharing housing with fellow students. You should discuss roommate possibilities with other students during your visits to your academic department at UCI.

To assist students in locating living accommodations in the surrounding communities, UCI provides off-campus resources related to available rentals, services, tips, and search vehicles to help you navigate the process of securing off-campus housing. The off-campus housing market surrounding UCI offers a large number of options, including over 15 different apartment complexes very close to UCI and less expensive options in neighboring cities. A popular option is the rental of "academic year' beach houses on the nearby Balboa Island and Peninsula.

We want your housing experience to be as pleasant as possible, so you can focus on your primary academic purpose for attending UCI. View the Student Housing website for more detailed information about on- and off-campus housing.

Vista del Campo, located on campus land, provides alternative and more upscale on-campus housing experience for graduate students. It is a different kind of on-campus graduate student housing community. It combines many modern amenities (all included in the monthly rental rate) and an appealing architecture with landscaped courtyards that merge with a network of winding walkways. There are 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, and 3 bedroom plans to choose from. While located on-campus, these apartments are managed independently; i.e., they are not managed by the UCI Housing Office which manages Verano Place and Palo Verde apartments.