The housing search for the 2025-26 school year has kicked off, with many students already in the midst of signing leases for next year. After just two months of attending the University, first years are under time constraints to choose between a plethora of both on-Grounds and off-Grounds housing options, while considering factors like potential roommates, cost and availability.
For many first-year students, this choice can be a source of anxiety and stress piled on top of their ongoing transition to life at the University. Housing and Residence Life tries to alleviate some of these stressors by offering a few resources to aid first-year students in their housing search. For example, the University hosted an Upperclass Housing Information Session Sept. 17 where students could learn about their on and off-Grounds housing options for the 2025-26 school year.
Countess Hughes, associate director of housing assignments, gave the presentation to a crowd of around 400 students, the vast majority of which were current first years, which exceeded the seating capacity of Newcomb Theatre where the event took place. Hughes first spoke to the audience about on-Grounds options, listing each choice that students will be able to request should they opt to live in University housing next year.
The University offers seven apartment style upperclassman housing options — Bice, Bond, Gaston, Ramazani, Copeley and Faulkner. Gaston and Ramazani are the two newest buildings, having just opened for the 2024-25 school year. They are unique in that they house groups of seven to eight people in each suite, as opposed to a maximum of four or six in all of the other upperclassmen buildings.
Other on-Grounds housing options include the language houses, which offer a unique opportunity for students who wish to immerse themselves in language-learning communities. Located side-by-side on Jefferson Park Ave., the French House, Spanish House and Shea House all require students to conduct conversations exclusively in their designated languages, with the Shea House offering opportunities for a variety of different languages such as German, American Sign Language, Japanese and Russian, among others.
During the presentation, Hughes listed some benefits of choosing to live in one of the language houses.
“Why our language houses? They are [in a] convenient location close to classes, [offer] a particularly tight-knit, diverse community,” Hughes said. “[The] ability to deepen your cultural understanding [and] improve language abilities through total immersion.”
Despite these numerous on-Grounds options, almost two-thirds of students live off-Grounds according to the U.S. News and World Report.
First-year College student David Erickson said he plans to live off-Grounds during his second year. Specifically, he said he hopes to live near the Corner — the stretch of University Ave. with restaurants and retail stores.
“I can make my own food, and I can live by myself,” Erickson said. “If you live behind the Corner, it’s just closer to everything.”
Hughes talked about these off-Grounds housing options as well, listing some of the common areas that students typically live off-Grounds — behind the Corner, along JPA, along Rugby Road and near Scott Stadium, among others.
Hughes also told students to pay attention to details — such as the length of their lease, the cost of Wi-Fi and other utilities and how rent will be divided among roommates — when searching for a property off-Grounds.
In addition to the September presentation, the University offers an “Off-Grounds Housing Website” — a resource HRL said they have offered for 10 years — that aids students with their housing search should they choose to live off-Grounds.
Hughes said the website provides students with a map of different properties that they may rent and shows many of the features of each specific unit.
“[The website] will show you photos and floor plans [and] links to the property website,” Hughes said. “You got your features, amenities, all the things you want to know about.”
Another aspect of the University’s website is that students can create a profile to find roommates who also want to live off-Grounds. Students use their school email address to create a profile, ensuring that any potential roommate is a student at the University.
But finding a roommate is only one part of the off-Grounds housing search. Students must also navigate early signing deadlines and competition for leases.
Erickson listed Grandmarc on the Corner as somewhere he may sign a lease for next year. He said that although he knew that signing a lease would come soon, he did not expect to have to sign this early in the year.
Haley Morris, assistant leasing manager at Grandmarc, said that Grandmarc leasing opened Oct. 1, and that the building usually reaches full capacity by May or June. She said that students may apply on the Grandmarc website if they are considering leasing from this location for the 2025-26 school year.
On-Grounds housing options, on the other hand, have later decision deadlines for those feeling the pressure to sign a lease is too much too soon.
First-year College student Lilia Kim, who said she is planning to apply for on-Grounds housing for her second year, spoke about how early students usually sign leases to live off-Grounds. She mentioned this as one of the reasons she preferred to live on-Grounds.
“It’s not something that I [want] to focus on right now, I’m trying to focus on my work,” Kim said. “I just don’t like how early we have to start thinking about that.”
First-year College student Marco Gori agreed with Kim, saying he is incentivized to apply to live on-Grounds because the housing search for off-Grounds housing seems challenging.
“It seems really difficult to get a lease off-Grounds, and it also seems expensive,” Gori said. “I have a friend who’s interested in getting a lease, and she’s found it super stressful because … she can’t find people whose parents are willing to let them sign on.”
Both Kim and Gori voiced support for the second-year living requirement in the University’s 2030 plan. Kim said that although she was first disappointed to hear that second-year students might not have the option to live off-Grounds, she later came to support the measure.
“It’s asking a lot from first years to figure out who they want to live with next year when they’ve barely gotten time to know people well enough,” Kim said. “I think it’s actually a good idea [and] would take a lot of stress off.”
According to Gori, the second-year living requirement would not only be beneficial for students, but also for other Charlottesville residents due to a potential decrease in housing prices.
“Housing is expensive in Charlottesville, and to take off some buyers from that market will bring house prices down for all people in Charlottesville,” Gori said.
While a second-year living requirement may offer relief in the future, this proposal in the 2030 plan offers little reprieve to the first years who are currently facing pressure to pick between an off-Grounds lease and University housing.
Housing and Residence Life will be offering two housing fairs for on- and off-Grounds housing Oct. 25 for students still looking for more information. They will also host virtual housing information sessions Oct. 9 and 22.
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