Survey: Third of CU grad students live 5 or more miles from campus

BOULDER» About 36 percent of the University of Colorado’s graduate students live 5 miles or more from campus, according to a new survey, and nearly 16 percent live more than 15 miles from campus.

These are among the results of a housing survey conducted by CU’S graduate school and office of institutional research, the results of which were released in early August. The online survey was sent in April to 4,874 graduate students, 1,676 of whom responded. The results highlight what graduate students leaders say is one of their most pressing needs: the need for more affordable housing.

“We, as a group, have brought to the attention of administrators the fact that housing is the biggest financial burden on grad students’ lives,” said Juan Garcia Oyervides, the president of CU’S United Government of Graduate Students. He described graduate students as being stuck in an “intermediate” position when it comes to finding affordable housing in Boulder.

“On one side, we’re educated people. We have a degree; we have a college education already,” Oyervides said. “But at the same time there is financial stress because the money the average grad student makes at CU Boulder is not enough to enjoy all the commodities of a full salary.”

CU officials are taking notice, both by administering the survey and by pursuing a host of initiatives to address the problem, they said.

In the shorter term, the Athens North residence hall will host freshmen for the last time this year. Next fall, it will become housing for single graduate students.

The hall used to be graduate student housing but was converted to freshman housing to accommodate growing classes. However, with additional housing in Williams Village, it can again become graduate student housing, said Daniel Gette, CU’S deputy executive director of Housing and Dining Services.

In the longer term, the Graduate and Family Housing department has put together a committee to solicit feedback from, in part, graduate students about the housing facility master plan. The graduate student government will be asked to provide feedback for the next full campus master plan to be completed in 2021. The campus also will host focus groups with students in the fall.

“We have been aware of the housing challenges that graduate students face,” graduate school Dean Ann Schmiesing said. “The purpose of the survey was to identify factors most important to graduate students when making housing decisions so that these factors can inform our future housing plans.”