Samford University

Enrollment

Of 6,097 students enrolled in fall 2024, 4,210 were undergraduates and 1,887 graduate students. 7% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount rose by 306 from fall 2023 (+5.3%).

Housing the college controls

IPEDS counts 2,608 beds of institutionally controlled housing for 2024-25. That figure is the school's own capacity, on or off campus, so it includes halls the college leases or manages but not private buildings that simply market to students. Capacity grew by 233 beds from the year before (2,375 in 2023-24).

What students pay

The typical 2024-25 housing charge for a student sharing a room was $6,950 for the academic year, roughly $772 a month spread over nine months. Food added $6,106. For aid purposes the school budgets $13,056 for food and housing on campus and $21,106 for a student living off campus away from family, $8,050 more.

Those are the college's own figures. Private by-the-bed rents near campus can sit well above or below them, so check current asking rents before you underwrite a project.

How lenders read a campus like this

At 6,097 students the campus is below the 10,000-student minimum in Fannie Mae's Multifamily Guide for Dedicated Student Housing (Part III, Chapter 1, section 103.01). Freddie Mac has no stated enrollment floor, but its own product summary says most of its student housing loans are at schools with 15,000 or more students. Banks, debt funds and conventional multifamily programs are the likelier lenders here.

To size a specific property, use the student housing loan sizer. It works by the bed and shows which constraint sets the loan.

Among the 10 Alabama campuses on this site, Samford University ranks number 8 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Alabama table.

Other campuses in Birmingham

• University of Alabama at Birmingham: 14,679 full-time, 3,480 beds