Universities acquire apartments to fulfill dorm needs

Across China, a growing number of universities are renting and buying residential apartments to address dormitory bed shortages.

Zheng Yuanbin, a first-year postgraduate student at Tsinghua University, moved into a brand-new dormitory apartment this autumn semester.

Although he has to ride an electric bike 6 kilometers to attend classes every day, Zheng said the apartment has much better facilities than the dormitories on campus.

"Three students share a room instead of four, and we have a private restroom, balcony and air conditioner," he said. By comparison, the older dormitories on campus have basic furnishings and shared restrooms, he added.

The apartment costs 500 yuan ($74.5) per semester, while the university provides a commuting subsidy of 300 yuan per month.

Dormitory managers and security guards live on the first floor, while the second and third floors are currently unused. Zheng said he had heard that the university plans to turn them into spaces for reading, sports and entertainment.

"I feel no inconvenience here, and the environment is comfortable and safe," he said.

The university obtained the entire building for use as student housing.

The approach allows universities to make use of existing housing instead of building new dormitories from scratch, while also helping put some unsold housing to use.

Hubei University in Wuhan, Hubei province, for example, purchased apartments in a residential community near its Yangluo campus and renovated them into student dormitories.

Xie Ziying, a postgraduate student at Hubei University, said each apartment has four separate bedrooms, allowing roommates to spend time together or have their own private space.

Fitness equipment is available downstairs, while food delivery riders can bring orders directly to the dormitory door. The campus is just across the road, and teaching buildings can be reached within a few minutes on foot.

Xie lives in a room shared by two students that costs 1,320 yuan per year.

"We don't pay property management fees, yet we enjoy facilities similar to those available to residents in an ordinary residential community," she said.

In Jiangsu province, authorities recently announced a three-year campaign to improve and expand student dormitories at universities across the province. Under the plan, universities will receive a 30 percent financial subsidy to buy housing in cities where property prices are relatively low.

The plan will also provide universities with a subsidy of 2,000 yuan per bed per year to reduce the cost of renting existing housing. The campaign covers 75 universities in the province.

Before the plan was announced, Jiangsu Normal University had already rented 1,256 residential apartments in the Wenting Yayuan community in Xuzhou. After renovation, the apartments are expected to provide about 6,500 beds.

Shenzhen University in Guangdong province expects to invest 530 million yuan to purchase an entire residential building in September.

Other universities, including Hefei University of Technology, Central South University and China University of Mining and Technology, have also adopted similar approaches. The latter recently provided 174 fully furnished apartments to doctoral students.

The expansion of student housing has become increasingly urgent as postgraduate enrollment grows faster than dormitory construction.

A report from the Tongce Research Institute said postgraduate enrollment in China in 2025 was 31 percent higher than five years earlier, while the floor space of newly built dormitories increased by only 18 percent over the same period. The gap between demand and supply is expected to widen in the coming years.

Song Hongwei, co-director of the institute, told media outlet The Paper that many universities are located in central urban areas or regional hubs where land is scarce, leaving little room to build new dormitories.

Building new dormitories also requires large amounts of land and government funding, both of which can be difficult to secure. In addition, construction usually takes at least two to three years, making it difficult for universities to quickly add beds when demand rises.

A 2024 guideline issued by seven central government departments, including the Ministry of Education, encourages universities to increase dormitory capacity by buying or renting talent apartments and commercial buildings near campuses. It also calls for these facilities to maintain the same service standards as on-campus dormitories.

The use of residential apartments as university dormitories has attracted widespread attention online, with related discussions receiving about 5 million views on Sina Weibo.

One netizen said the model could benefit all three parties: property developers, universities and students.

"For many young people, university marks their first time living independently away from their parents, and such student accommodation eases worries for numerous mothers," another netizen commented.

Tao Jiayi contributed to this story.