BOTHELL — Student housing will be available for the first time this fall at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus.
The commuter university plans to lease and convert to student housing 24 apartments from a rental complex that’s about a 5-minute walk from the campus.
The goal is to house roughly 40 students.
Housing will be assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis based on several criteria. First priority will go to new students who live at least 30 miles from campus, including Whidbey Island. Next in the pecking order will be all other new students, followed by continuing students.
“It is very exciting,” said Marilyn Cox, UW Bothell vice chancellor for administration and planning. “We are thrilled to be taking this first step in launching a student housing program at UW Bothell.”
The UW’s Tacoma campus opened student housing last fall for about 20 students. It expects to double that next year.
UW Bothell had the equivalent of about 1,900 full-time students last fall.
The goal in Bothell will to be to increase housing and student activities at the campus just south of the Snohomish County line.
“We want to operate this and build our student-life programming, and then we will be assessing the demand and our ability to expand the housing program over the next number of years,” Cox said.
UW Bothell officials say the student housing is another major step for the campus, which opened in 1990 to offer upper-division and graduate courses to transfer students. Three years ago, the Legislature allowed the Bothell campus to begin accepting freshmen.
The student housing will include two advisers who will help organize activities, such as movie nights, picnics and ski trips — “things that really help it feel like a student community,” Cox said.
UW Bothell will review applications later this month and make room assignments in August. The deadline for priority placement is July 15, although applications will be accepted after that.
Proposed rates, which still must be approved by the university’s Board of Regents later this month, are $625 a month for a shared one-bedroom apartment and $1,100 a month for a single one-bedroom apartment. Both are 12-month contracts.
Rates include all utilities — water, electricity, basic cable, and Internet — except phone service.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
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For more information, go to www.uwb.edu.
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