With a current enrollment of 48,000 students, the University of Texas is the second-largest public university in the country after UCLA’s main campus.� But unlike Los Angeles, Austin, Texas is considered one of the best cities in which to live in the U.S.� Unfortunately, on-campus student housing facilities haven’t kept up with the university’s gargantuan population. Since I graduated from UT’s class of a-year-a-long-time-ago-so-don’t-worry-about-it, here are some things to keep in mind about your first year’s digs:

1) UT admits students on a first-applied, first-accepted basis.� Once a student is accepted to the University, sometimes as early as October of his/her senior year of high school, he can apply for on-campus housing.� The later in the year a student is accepted, the less likely getting on-campus housing is.�

2) Students need to turn in a separate application for on-campus housing. Most schools send to their accepted students a housing assignment with the student acceptance/enrollment package.� No so UT! Once a student has accepted a place at UT, she must submit a separate application for on-campus housing.

3) Transfer students get what’s left. Transfer students aren’t assigned on-campus housing slots until all new, incoming freshman applications have been processed.

4) Living on the campus is not always the least-expensive option.� Budget-minded students need to know that on-campus housing starts at just over $700 per month during the school year (or what UT calls “the long session”).� While that does include a meal plan, meals are no longer all-you-can-eat affairs requiring a student ID with the right sticker. On-campus residents are now given 1200 “Dine-In” dollars per year to spend in any UT Food Service-run facility.� Rent and groceries may cost some students less depending on lifestyles.

5) Living off-campus can be hard on a freshman’s social life.� If you’re naturally shy or not much of a student club joiner, living off-campus can be a barrier to making friends on your new surroundings. On-campus housing offers floors that are targeted to specific populations, such as honors students, students who don’t want exposure to alcohol, or students who don’t want a co-ed floor.� Resident advisers live on every dorm floor, and offer free advice and problem-solving from a upper-class-men’s point of view.� Conversely, after your first year at UT, living off-campus can be hard on your grades.

6) Living off-campus doesn’t bar you from other student services.� Living off-campus used to mean brown-bagging lunch. Students living off-campus can now eat at all dining facilities run by the UT Food Service department.� Off-campus can also use the Student Health Center, Student Pharmacy, and Student Athletic Center.

7) Your car won’t be much help on weekdays, regardless of where you live.� With 48,000 students, UT has what has been charitably referred to as a “parking problem”. It’s not so much as problem as a mathematical error no one seems interested in correcting.� Any student may buy a “C Class” parking permit, but there are at any time only 14,000 parking spaces to serve those permit holders.� Good thing cars aren’t permitted on campus between 4 a.m. and 5 p.m.!

Consider these points as they might apply to you as you head to the land of Lance Armstrong and Michael Dell, but don’t let the housing decision get you down – it’s only for 9 months, and you already chose the best school on earth!

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