Public · Athens, OH

Ohio University-Main Campus

19,901 full-time students in fall 2024 and college-controlled housing for 8,597: about 43.2 beds for every 100 full-time students. The other 11,304 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.

8,597 college-controlled beds (43.2 per 100 full-time) 11,304 full-time students beyond them
26,323total students, fall 2024
19,901full-time
$8,266typical housing charge, 2024-25 academic year
$12,840aid office off-campus food and housing budget

Enrollment

Of 26,323 students enrolled in fall 2024, 20,444 were undergraduates and 5,879 graduate students. 26% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount rose by 1,386 from fall 2023 (+5.6%).

Housing the college controls

IPEDS counts 8,597 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 274 beds from the year before (8,323 in 2023-24).

What students pay

The typical 2024-25 housing charge for a student sharing a room was $8,266 for the academic year, roughly $918 a month spread over nine months. Food added $7,824. For aid purposes the school budgets $14,162 for food and housing on campus and $12,840 for a student living off campus away from family, $1,322 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

With 26,323 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 20 Ohio campuses on this site, Ohio University-Main Campus ranks number 4 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the Ohio table.

Source: Fall 2024 enrollment, IPEDS DRVEF2024 (provisional release, December 2025); 2024-25 housing capacity and charges, IPEDS COST1_2024 (December 2025); IPEDS HD2025 directory (July 2026). Beds per 100 and the gap are arithmetic on those figures.
MeasureValue
Total enrollment, fall 202426,323
Total enrollment, fall 202324,937
Full-time students19,901
Undergraduates (full-time)20,444 (16,715)
Graduate students5,879
Exclusively online26%
College-controlled housing capacity, 2024-258,597
Capacity, 2023-248,323
Beds per 100 full-time students43.2
Typical housing charge, academic year$8,266
Typical food charge, academic year$7,824
Aid budget, food and housing on campus$14,162
Aid budget, food and housing off campus$12,840
All first-time, full-time students required to live in college housingNo
Combined food and housing charge (if not split)not reported

IPEDS unit ID 204857. Athens 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.