Students scramble as new growth-driven housing policy pushes Winthrop upperclassmen off campus By Julia Swygert and Omar Woods 4 hrs ago ROCK HILL — Some Winthrop University students are scrambling to find housing in Rock Hill for the fall 2026 semester as a housing policy change has forced upperclassmen to look off-campus amidst post-pandemic enrollment growth.
Students received an email on Jan. 27 from university officials informing them there would be a change in the housing policy for the 2026-27 school year. Junior and senior students would no longer have the guarantee of on-campus residences.
The change comes after years of steadily increasing enrollment and the 2024 demolition of Wofford and Richardson, two outdated and structurally unsound residence halls, according to Jarad Russell, Winthrop’s assistant dean of students and director of residence education.
Additionally, the percentage of students wishing to live on campus has gone up in recent years, Russell said.
Approximately 41 percent of Winthrop’s more than 5,200 students live on campus, a rate significantly higher than the 30 percent of students attending a four-year, public institution nationwide, according to data from a 2016 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.
Winthrop has worked to accommodate an increasing number of students by leasing apartments from CampusWalk through Winthrop, a nearby apartment complex. The school is now leasing all of CampusWalk’s 500-plus bed spaces, Russell said, and can no longer accommodate all the students wishing to live on campus.
“Based on projected enrollment for the coming year, we must shift our housing model to one that best serves our institutional mission,” Winthrop’s Residence Life Office said in the Jan. 27 email to students.
The model in question is one that prioritizes housing for incoming freshmen and rising sophomores over upperclassmen.
This change came as a shock to many students, given Winthrop’s emphasis on the benefits of campus life throughout college and two-year live-on requirement for freshmen and sophomores.
Traditionally, exceptions allowing students to live off campus before their junior year have been granted to those living with their parents or guardians within 50 miles of the campus, as well as to both older and married students.
In order to accommodate more juniors and seniors wishing to live off campus, Winthrop’s policy change will allow sophomores to be exempted from the two-year live-on requirement.
According to university officials, approximately 450 rising juniors and seniors expressed a need for on-campus housing and joined the waitlist. As of March 6, 165 upperclassmen had been offered housing.
In an effort to help the remaining upperclassmen secure housing, Winthrop has partnered with Apartment and Corporate Relocation Services, a free service that assists students with finding local, affordable housing.
To offset the additional cost, any extra grant, scholarship or loan money exceeding the cost of tuition and fees will be refunded to students and could be put toward housing, Russell said.
Despite this, students have expressed concerns about the affordability of off-campus living in comparison to dormitories or on-campus apartments.
Options for on-campus housing per semester range from $2,582 per person for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom dorm shared by four students to $4,913 per person for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom dorm shared by two students.
“Currently students are paying close to $6,000 per semester with housing and meal plan to live on campus,” said Russell. “We have found that several local apartment complexes offer rates comparable to on-campus housing, and many that are cheaper.”
Despite the comparable costs during the school year, students often save money by living with family during the summer, something that is impossible with the majority of apartment and house lease durations of six months to a year.
Some students feel the university hasn’t been as involved as it should be in guiding them through the transition.
“The most I have seen them say about the issue is that we can use our increased financial aid refunds for monthly rent,” Christian Inman, a sophomore at Winthrop, said.
Over the past several weeks, students have been outspoken, saying they feel Winthrop let them down, including at a Feb. 17 Residence Rundown town hall meeting hosted by the university’s Student Government Association.
Many said it felt like a betrayal of trust for the university to prioritize incoming freshmen when current students have already committed two-to-three years and tens of thousands of dollars to the university.
“I think it has decreased my trust in officials,” Inman said. “From what I have read, it seems as if they do not care about the students at all.”
Michael Schwartz, a rising senior who transferred before his sophomore year, shares Inman’s concern over the future fallout of the housing crisis.
“My trust in the university’s management has absolutely plummeted,” Schwartz said.
Students have questioned why the university didn’t consider limiting the number of students they admit if they can’t support housing for all as they have in the past.
“Winthrop has been fortunate to experience enrollment growth over the last three years,” Russell remarked. “While this is a testament to the value of a Winthrop education, it has also been necessary in order to grow our enrollment back to where it was pre-COVID and to meet our revenue goals which help serve all students.”
In 2016, Winthrop’s total student enrollment was 6,109. By 2023, it fell to 4,694, but it is steadily increasing.
In October 2025, Winthrop announced its highest enrollment since 2019 with a total of 5,287 students — 1,014 of whom were freshmen.
Plans to build a new 95,000-square-foot, 400-bed residence hall are underway, with construction set to begin later this year. The university hopes to open it by late 2027.
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