Private nonprofit · Chicago, IL
University of Chicago
16,964 full-time students in fall 2024 and college-controlled housing for 4,572: about 27 beds for every 100 full-time students. The other 12,392 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 18,566 students enrolled in fall 2024, 7,598 were undergraduates and 10,968 graduate students. 1% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount rose by 227 from fall 2023 (+1.2%).
Housing the college controls
IPEDS counts 4,572 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 4 beds from the year before (4,568 in 2023-24). The school requires all full-time, first-time students to live in college housing, so the first-year class fills a known share of those beds every fall.
What students pay
The school can't split food from housing, so it reports one combined 2024-25 charge: $20,109 for the academic year.
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
With 18,566 students, most of them full-time, the campus clears the 10,000-student minimum in Fannie Mae's Multifamily Guide for Dedicated Student Housing (Part III, Chapter 1, section 103.01, effective September 28, 2026). Under sections 103.01 and 103.03 a property still has to sit within 2 miles of the campus boundary or near a college-run transit line, have operated a full school year, and lease at least 80% of units for 12 months.
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 21 Illinois campuses on this site, University of Chicago ranks number 6 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Illinois table.
Other campuses in Chicago
- Columbia College Chicago: 5,295 full-time, 2,105 beds
- DePaul University: 18,630 full-time, 2,736 beds
- Illinois Institute of Technology: 6,507 full-time, 1,798 beds
- Loyola University Chicago: 15,057 full-time, 4,957 beds
- Roosevelt University: 3,519 full-time, 858 beds
- Saint Xavier University: 3,071 full-time, 520 beds
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago: 3,135 full-time, 1,032 beds
- University of Illinois Chicago: 28,375 full-time, 3,589 beds
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Total enrollment, fall 2024 | 18,566 |
| Total enrollment, fall 2023 | 18,339 |
| Full-time students | 16,964 |
| Undergraduates (full-time) | 7,598 (7,578) |
| Graduate students | 10,968 |
| Exclusively online | 1% |
| College-controlled housing capacity, 2024-25 | 4,572 |
| Capacity, 2023-24 | 4,568 |
| Beds per 100 full-time students | 27 |
| Typical housing charge, academic year | not reported |
| Typical food charge, academic year | not reported |
| Aid budget, food and housing on campus | $20,109 |
| Aid budget, food and housing off campus | not reported |
| All first-time, full-time students required to live in college housing | Yes |
| Combined food and housing charge (if not split) | $20,109 |
IPEDS unit ID 144050. Cook 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.