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Housing costs and tight rental markets are creating new barriers to higher education. The College Board says in-state students at public universities now pay more for housing than they do for tuition. Among the colleges taking steps to tackle the problem is Vermont's flagship university, which is building new off-campus apartments. In collaboration with The Hechinger Report, Vermont Public's Liam Elder-Connors brings us this report.
LIAM ELDER-CONNORS, BYLINE: When Alexis Roberson got into graduate school at the University of Vermont, she was shocked by the scarcity of apartments in Burlington. She only found one place - a single-unit apartment that cost $1,700 a month.
ALEXIS ROBERSON: And I'm from LA. Like, I was paying, like, a pretty good price for, like, a city, so it was kind of a shock. And I almost deferred for a year just because, like, the cost is a lot.
ELDER-CONNORS: Roberson, who's about to start her third year of grad school, ultimately decided to pay that high rent. Then she learned that, this summer, she had a new option.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Excited to move in?
ROBERSON: I am. We're on the second floor, in 212.
ELDER-CONNORS: On a morning in late July, Roberson met with movers on the street outside the Catamount Run Apartments. UVM, which hasn't had grad student housing for years, helped fund the construction of 300 market-rate apartments. In exchange, these units were earmarked for graduate and medical school students, which meant they could avoid Burlington's extremely tight rental market.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We'll get some stuff, and we'll meet you up there. We'll get you moved in.
ROBERSON: All right. Awesome. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: No problem. All right, Steve (ph), let's go.
ELDER-CONNORS: The decision to move here was easy for Roberson. Her new apartment is cheaper than her old one. That's not the case for John Ball. Last year, Ball found himself three miles from campus, in a basement studio apartment. He says the extra cost to live at Catamount Run is worth it.
JOHN BALL: Now there's a lot of other students moving in here, so I'm assuming I'll be able to meet more people here. I think this is a great idea, and the apartments are really nice.
ELDER-CONNORS: College officials are hopeful that the added housing will entice grad students to come to the University of Vermont and ease some of the general housing crunch around Burlington, where the rental vacancy rate has hovered at or below 1% for the past few years. But adding more units won't completely fix Burlington's housing problem.
RICHARD CATE: Affordability is still an issue, even though the university has invested in the housing.
ELDER-CONNORS: Richard Cate is UVM's vice president for finance and administration. A two-bedroom apartment at Catamount Run rents for a little more than $2,500 a month - slightly higher than Burlington's median rent. Cate says the cost of construction doesn't allow the university to offer any break on housing.
CATE: We're left with basically building market-rate housing, but at least there are units available.
ELDER-CONNORS: The University of Vermont isn't the only college looking for ways to address high housing costs for students. Mary DeNiro is executive director of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International. She says some universities, like UVM, are partnering with developers to build market-rate apartments. Other colleges now offer funds specifically to help students with housing expenses. The University of Texas at Austin launched its housing scholarship program in 2023 and this year set aside $7 million for it.
MARY DENIRO: And the solutions - they're all good, but they're not all good for every university. So universities are really taking this moment to think through what is best, not only for today, but as we move into the future.
ELDER-CONNORS: The future for the University of Vermont might include funding more apartment construction, but they're running into some barriers. UVM recently scrapped plans for a 540-bed project for undergraduates due to the costs. University of Vermont officials insist they're committed to building more student housing - they just need a project that fits their budget.
For NPR News, I'm Liam Elder-Connors in Burlington, Vt.
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