Colleges Close Dorms, Waukesha Eyes Housing Conversion

Approximately 3,000 dorm beds across four universities are slated for closure, vacancy, or demolition in 2026, a consequence of declining student enrollment and reduced demand for on-campus housing. This trend coincides with a projected decrease in the traditional college-age population, with the number of U.S. high school graduates expected to fall 13% by 2041 from a 2025 peak of roughly 3.9 million, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. This situation presents both a challenge and an opportunity for educational institutions facing underutilization of their facilities and land, potentially offering a solution to the national housing shortage, which currently stands at 4.03 million homes. The city of Waukesha, Wisconsin, is actively pursuing this opportunity by attempting to rezone the nearly 76-acre property of the former University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Waukesha campus, which closed following a 65% enrollment drop, into a residential neighborhood. This initiative aims to repurpose the vacant campus infrastructure into much-needed housing. The current surplus of dormitories contrasts sharply with the preceding decades, during which colleges expanded their housing capacity to accommodate growing student bodies. U.S. degree-granting institutions saw enrollment climb from 15.3 million in 2000 to approximately 21 million in 2010. Despite enrollment peaking, investment in student housing continued to surge. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis reveals that inflation-adjusted private investment in dormitory construction more than doubled between 2010 and 2016, increasing from $2.11 billion to $4.81 billion, representing a rise of about 128%. The University of Arizona, for example, will not make four of its residence halls, totaling 1,177 beds, available for the 2026–27 academic year due to declining enrollment. This period of expansion resulted in a significant amount of physical space on college campuses nationwide. A 2012 survey of 50 residence hall projects scheduled for completion between 2011 and 2013 alone identified 26,691 new beds, with construction costs exceeding $2 billion. The repurposing of these underutilized university properties into residential communities could offer a novel approach to addressing housing deficits in urban and suburban areas, leveraging existing infrastructure and land assets.