UM to Contract with Quarters Oxford Apartments for Student Housing

By Clara Turnage

University of Mississippi

The University of Mississippi has contracted with The Quarters Oxford to expand student housing in anticipation of future enrollment growth. 

Located a short walk west of campus, the apartment complex will provide space for up to 400 new student residents. 

“To meet the needs of the university’s expanding enrollment, the Department of Student Housing needed to secure additional beds for first-year students,” said John Yaun, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and director of student housing. “We coordinated efforts through the university to develop an RFP process to identify potential housing properties in Oxford that would meet the needs of our students and expectations of student housing.” 

In fall 2022, the university enrolled 4,480 new freshmen and a total of 22,967 students across seven campuses. This 5.1% enrollment growth bucked the national trend of declining enrollment following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In response to the record campus growth, the university simply needed more space, Yaun said. 

“Since summer 2022, student housing has been in continuous communication with enrollment management regarding enrollment trends for 2023-24,” Yaun said “Once we realized that first-year enrollment is expected to increase, the student housing team immediately began to evaluate all possible options for increasing the number of first-year bed spaces for fall of 2023.” 

The Quarters is on the OUT bus route and students also can drive or walk to classes. The student housing department will have staff working onsite as well as a community coordinator organizing programming for students. 

“We want to ensure students have the support they need as they navigate their new collegiate experience,” he said. “We want to provide an additional layer of safety and security through a staff presence on the property, and, finally, we want this living and learning experience to be no different than what students would experience and expect from living in any other residential campus community.” 

The Oxford and University police departments will work together to ensure students in the gated community will have a safe space to live, said Charlotte Pegues, vice chancellor for student affairs. 

“Our foremost priority is the safety and security of our students,” she said. “Each bedroom has its own key, and we are providing 24-hour on-call staff and are adding extra security on the weekends.” 

Incoming freshmen will be able to select rooms at The Quarters as early as April for the fall 2023 semester. 

“We are looking forward to an exciting and fruitful partnership with The Quarters, as we identify the best ways to meet the needs of our students at Ole Miss,” Yaun said.