University Communications

First, the housing program must be able to offer space and services to a projected influx of 4,000 additional full-time-equivalent students by 2010, at least two-thirds of them undergraduates. The revised UCLA Student Housing Master Plan 2000-2010 ups the ante further: The university wants to see 58 percent — about a 10-percent increase — of a fast-growing student population living on or within a mile of campus by 2011.

Additionally, the 2000-2010 master plan guarantees incoming students four years of university housing and transfer students two years, double what was offered to them in the 1990 edition of the master plan.

"The plan is tied directly to the desire of the academic community that there be sufficient housing on the core campus to accommodate all incoming students for a full four years," Foraker says.

For new single graduate students and professional-school students, the plan promises two years in university-owned housing, or as many years as necessary for those with dependent children. Previously, no housing guarantees were made to these students.

The impetus for these sweeping changes is the immutable desire to keep UCLA soundly ahead of the competition. To vie for the top students in the 21st century — especially with a limited supply of affordable residences near campus — the university needs to be able to provide university-owned housing to all who want it, says Foraker.

While UCLA Housing is busy building these new spaces, Hanson's Office of Residential Life must plan for the challenge of supervising, supporting and programming for the additional students. It is going to be a particularly interesting challenge since this new mix of students might include upperclassmen.

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