Carolina Housing

Carolina Housing works to provide convenient housing that is safe, inclusive, and supportive. In addition to a welcoming hone, Carolina Housing strives to help students build life-long friendships and develop their skills as they journey through their Carolina experience.  

UNC requires that all first-year students, including first-year student-athletes, live on campus   Additionally, UNC’s on-campus residential facilities house more than 65% of sophomores, as well as many upper-class and graduate students. 

Housing (room and board) is included in all athletics aid packages for headcount sports (see Process 3.0 Financial Aid). 

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) policy mandates that no more than 50% of individuals either in an on-campus residence or within a block, wing or floor of an on-campus residence can be student-athletes. UNC’s Executive Associate Director of Athletics works closely with Carolina Housing to facilitate assignment of housing for approximately 300 student-athletes per year. 

Coaches communicate their housing preferences for their teams to the Executive Associate Director of Athletics when they submit the names of their incoming and returning student-athletes who want to live on campus. In almost all cases, student-athletes have communicated to their coaches where they would like to live. 

Once Carolina Housing has placed students in the requested residences, the Executive Associate Director of Athletics communicates student-athlete housing assignments back to the coaches. Carolina Housing also communicates housing assignments directly to student-athletes, just as they do for all students living on campus. 

While all on-campus residents (including student-athletes) must sign a housing contract, student-athletes do not go through the same housing selection process as other students. Some coaches prefer their student-athletes live together, while others prefer they live with student-athletes from another team. Occasionally, if there is not a student-athlete available to be a roommate, a general student will be assigned by Carolina Housing to live with a student-athlete. Upon request the Executive Associate Director of Athletics will arrange housing for walk-on student-athletes. The exception is that some walk-on student-athletes apply for housing through the regular housing process. 

Coaches base their preference of housing for their teams mainly on proximity to main campus (and classes), the Loudermilk Center and/or the Stalling-Evans Sports Medicine Center. Proximity to practice/competition facilities is also a consideration for some coaches. 

Carolina Housing focuses heavily on the first-year experience and implements a community immersion model for all first-year students through Residential Learning Programs. Although these communities are available to all undergraduates, generally few student-athletes participate as the majority of first-year student-athletes live with other first-year student-athletes from the same team or from other teams.