On Campus:

UCI guarantees an offer of on-campus housing to all new incoming, full-time Ph.D. and MFA students who are admitted prior to the housing application deadline. The on-campus housing options at UCI are generally more affordable than off-campus options. However, it is important to note that rent to be a source of financial stress for graduate students at UCI no matter where one chooses to live (see the AGS Grad Student Life Report for more details).

The specific guarantees offered to incoming students have been subject to change over the past few years. Previously, Ph.D. students who accept a housing offer would be guaranteed placement in on-campus housing for one year less than normal time to degree (NTTD-1) for their academic program, and MFA students who accepted a housing offer would be guaranteed placement in on-campus housing for normal time to degree (NTTD) for their academic program, up to three years. However, depending on what program you are enrolled in, this may not longer be the case. It is important to note what your department and the housing office specify as your gurantee and to address any discrepancies between the two as early as possible. Please contact members of AGS if you have trouble regarding your housing gurantee. Masters students do not usual receive any housing guarantee.

Housing Communities

The on-campus housing options include:

• Verano Place ("Verano") - One-, two-, and three-bedroom unfurnished apartments. Units are equipped with stove and refrigerator, window coverings, carpet, internet, and cable television service. Electricity is included in the rent for all units except those located in the 66000 - 69000 buildings.
• Palo Verde ("PV") - One-, two-, and three-bedroom units are available, as well as a small number of studios. Apartments are equipped with stove and refrigerator, window coverings, carpet, internet, and cable television service. Electricity and telephone service are not included in the rent.
• Campus Village ("CV") - a mix of of graduate and undergraduates that is being fully converted to grad housing (will be completely graduate housing in '20-'21). All apartments come equipped with appliances (stove, refrigerator, and microwave), and graduate apartments are unfurnished.
• American Campus Communities (ACC) - Five ACC Apartment Communities, privately operated by American Campus Communities, are located on the east side of campus and offer housing to single undergraduates and graduate students. These apartments are generally more expensive than the other on-campus housing options, but offer greater amenities.

Resources for Community Facilities can be found on the UCI Student Housing website.

Parking in Grad Housing

More information available at the Grad Parking website

Palo Verde and Verano Place use a "permitless" parking system that uses License Plate Recognition – scanning of license plates is used for the enforcement of resident parking. Residents requesting parking permission will be given an account with the Virtual Permit Management System (VPMS) by their housing office. Residents are responsible for managing their parking privileges.

Visitor Parking: All residents receive 432 hours of visitor permissions per quarter (equivalent to 18 days). To activate visitor permissions using the "permitless" VPMS system, log in to your account and record the license plate of each visitor's vehicle and the number of hours of the intended visit. Visitors may only park in designated "Visitor" spaces. If you exhaust your hours before the quarter is over, you will not be given any addtional hours.

Commuter, monthly and/or evening visitor permits may be purchased from Transportation & Distribution Services. For more information, visit their Web site at www.parking.uci.edu.

Considerations for deciding on a housing community:

This section provides perspectives from grad students living in these communities and from the AGS Grad Student Life Survey; as such, they are opinions and not official stances taken by AGS. However, this information may be helpful in figuring out what housing community may best meet your needs.

Generally speaking, people are equally satisfied living in Verano and PV. Campus Village has received lower satisfaction ratings, but things may change in this regard as the housing community becomes more oriented towards graduate tudents.

Verano and PV have better parking, and are closer to one another.

Howeverm, CV is closer to the campus core and physical science buildings, which may make it a preferable option for Med students and those in the Biological & Physical Sciences.

Some additional pros and cons:

• Verano units can be pretty old, but these units are generally cheaper
  • Verano also has a new wellness room next to the playground
• PV and Verano both are family friendly
  • Playgrounds
  • Bookable rooms (Clubhouse, kindergarten, housing office/community space)
  • Basketball hoop
  • Grills galore
• Campus Village is still relatively new among graduate students, so as more information comes in we'll continue to update the page
  • Campus Village is the furthest from the ARC in terms of graduate housing, but offers its own small gym in its community center
  • Very very nice basketball courts, small movie theater and CHEAPEST SNACKS ON CAMPUS

Off-Campus:

Living off-campus may make more sense for many graduate students, and many students choose to move off-campus after spending a few years in on-campus housing. However, it is worth noting that off-campus housing in Orange County is generally more expensive than the on-campus housing options at UCI.

There are many active off-campus subleasing options, most are posted and available on Facebook (University of California, Irvine (UCI) Housing, Sublets & Roommates). Also see the Anteater Housing Network for subletting resources for graduate students.