The University of Kentucky board of trustees took the first steps on Tuesday to expand housing on campus.
The Board of Trustees approved a plan to seek legislative approval to start on the next phase of UK’s student housing project, which began in 2011. The university was given approval by the board to begin negotiations with Greystar Real Estate, a third-party developer that operates and manages UK residence halls, for the new facility.
“We know that students perform better inside the classroom and are more involved outside the classroom when they live on campus,” said UK President Eli Capilouto. “This plan will enable more students to take advantage of these important benefits, allowing us to continue our momentum to recruit, retain and graduate even more students in the years to come.”
The $81 million project proposes putting a new dorm on south campus, behind Ingels, Baldwin and Smith halls, and would be operated by Greystar, according to materials from the meeting. The four-story building would be located at the site of the former Kirwan/Blanding complex.
By working with Greystar, the dorm would be built without adding debt for UK, said Eric Monday, executive vice president for finance and administration.
With a record enrollment this fall, housing demand has continued to grow. UK does not require first-year students to live on campus, but an average of 85% of the freshman class chooses to live on campus, Monday said.
Students who live on campus have to re-apply to live on campus again the next school year. Monday said typically 2,000 to 2,500 students re-apply to live on campus, but this year, that number is over 3,700.
“When we think about that environment, why do they want to live with us?” Monday said at Tuesday’s meeting. “Because they know they’re going to have a better opportunity to fit in, belong, and a better opportunity to get higher GPAs and higher levels of retention.”
The proposed dorm would be open for students by August 2026, and include 644 beds, study rooms, laundry facilities and kitchens. While the facility will be operated by Greystar, UK will operate programming in the dorm.
Student rooms would be two-bedroom/one-bathroom, along with 16 rooms for resident advisors and one 2-bedroom apartment for the resident director.
In 2011, the average age of UK’s residence halls was 44 years. Since then, 14 dorms have been added on campus through public-private partnerships.
As enrollment has been increasing at UK, the university has had to deal with housing shortages. There were more than 8,100 beds on campus this year, the most the university has offered at one time.
This school year, UK converted multi-purpose rooms in dorms into living spaces. The converted rooms offer the same amenities as regular dorm rooms, but are slightly larger.
UK also launched a pilot program called TRI-IT, where two-bedroom, two-person suites were converted into three-person suites. One of the single beds in the suites was replaced with bunk beds, allowing an additional student to live in the room. All three students in the suite share a bathroom.
Around 1,900 students moved into TRI-IT spaces this fall.
Housing, dining increases for 2024-25
On Tuesday, the board also approved increases to housing and dining costs for next school year.
Housing is increasing by 3.75% for undergraduate students and graduate students who live in the University Flats. Graduate and apartment housing rates are increasing by 2%, except for Greg Page and Shawneetown, which had price increases last year.
“While increases are necessary to balance rising operating costs as well as the cost of utilities, maintenance and supplies, we have worked diligently to keep increases as minimal as possible and markedly less than the increase last year,” said Monday.
Campus housing prices vary by dorm, but increases generally fall between $15 and $30. Dining rates will increase by 3% next year, which is set by Aramark, UK’s dining partner. The minimum dining plan will increase by $58, from $1,920 this school year to $1,978.
