Public · Grand Junction, CO
Colorado Mesa University
7,280 full-time students in fall 2024 and college-controlled housing for 2,856: about 39.2 beds for every 100 full-time students. The other 4,424 live somewhere the college doesn't control. That is the outer edge of the private market, before you take out commuters and students living with family.
Enrollment
Of 9,785 students enrolled in fall 2024, 9,473 were undergraduates and 312 graduate students. 8% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount rose by 790 from fall 2023 (+8.8%).
Housing the college controls
IPEDS counts 2,856 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 177 beds from the year before (2,679 in 2023-24).
What students pay
The typical 2024-25 housing charge for a student sharing a room was $6,250 for the academic year, roughly $694 a month spread over nine months. Food added $5,959. For aid purposes the school budgets $12,209 for food and housing on campus and $10,872 for a student living off campus away from family, $1,337 less.
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 9,785 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 14 Colorado campuses on this site, Colorado Mesa University ranks number 10 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Colorado table.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Total enrollment, fall 2024 | 9,785 |
| Total enrollment, fall 2023 | 8,995 |
| Full-time students | 7,280 |
| Undergraduates (full-time) | 9,473 (7,068) |
| Graduate students | 312 |
| Exclusively online | 8% |
| College-controlled housing capacity, 2024-25 | 2,856 |
| Capacity, 2023-24 | 2,679 |
| Beds per 100 full-time students | 39.2 |
| Typical housing charge, academic year | $6,250 |
| Typical food charge, academic year | $5,959 |
| Aid budget, food and housing on campus | $12,209 |
| Aid budget, food and housing off campus | $10,872 |
| All first-time, full-time students required to live in college housing | No |
| Combined food and housing charge (if not split) | not reported |
IPEDS unit ID 127556. Mesa County. School website. Figures are as the institution reported them to the National Center for Education Statistics. The live-on question asks whether every first-time, full-time student must live in college housing; a school with exemptions or a later-year requirement can answer no. How this data is built.