Editor’s note: At its meeting on Feb. 22, 2023, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, granted the University of Iowa permission to proceed with planning the next five years of its housing and dining system.

Driven by research and feedback from its students, the University of Iowa is poised to make significant upgrades to its housing system in the next five years that will, in turn, improve student success and retention.

The primary projects include remodeling and modernization of Hillcrest and Burge residence halls; selling Mayflower Residence Hall; and building a new residence hall on the east side of campus primarily for second-, third-, and fourth-year students.

“We know that living on campus provides students with the educational, social, and cultural experiences that support their success,” says Sarah Hansen, vice president for student life. “At Iowa, 89% of first-year students who live in the residence halls continue to their second year compared to 82% of students who live off campus. This five-year plan represents an efficient and effective use of our resources while improving outcomes for students.”

A preliminary draft of the UI’s Housing and Dining Five-Year Plan will be presented to the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, as the university seeks the board’s approval to proceed with planning the future of its housing and dining system.

Building a new residence hall, planned for university-owned property within the east side residence hall neighborhood, will bring more students to the central campus and provide easier access to campus dining at nearby Burge and Catlett.

“Communal dining has a direct, positive correlation with student success, and it is one of the simplest and most fundamental things we can do for our students,” says Hansen. “Offering central campus dining encourages students to make connections and develop relationships with each other and decreases isolation, especially for first-year students.”

Remodeling is in progress at Hillcrest and will continue into the 2023-24 academic year. Once the work at Hillcrest is complete, Mayflower would close as early as the end of the spring 2024 semester.

Primarily because of its distance from main campus, Mayflower is consistently the least-requested residence hall by students and has the most students who leave to move into another hall. By moving more students to the main campus, the university aims to increase first- to second-year retention rates. Recent data show that first-year students who live in Mayflower are retained at lower rates than any other residence hall and have lower grade point averages.

Iowa has 11 residence halls, nine of which are more than 50 years old. The oldest is Currier, which was built in 1914, and the newest is Catlett, which opened in 2017. In total, the residence hall system has about 6,500 beds.

In December 2022, the university hired a consultant team to assist in development of the housing five-year plan. The university will use the results of this study to help determine where and how to potentially construct new residence halls to support returning students who want to continue living on campus, along with rough estimates of costs. 

Once developed, each project will go before the Board of Regents for design and budget approval.