Housing

Mar 16, 2024

There are a lot of different options for housing around UTSA, and they all have their own style, price range, risk factor, and special benefits. You should evaluate your own needs, preferences and abilities before making a decision.

For example:

  • If you don’t have a car, living near campus is a good idea.
  • If you’re looking to make friends and have constant social interaction, you may want to try the dorms.
  • If you’re looking for something cheap, you may want to move away from campus, find a sublease, or use the dorms in combination with financial assistance.
  • If you want something with space, leasing a house or looking further from campus may be a good idea.
  • If you want safety, you should know that on-campus housing has access to rapid response campus police (UTSA PD, not SAPD).
    • This may be accessible to nearby off-campus housing as well, but I’m not sure.

Some of the details below are persoal opinions and experiences, which will vary greatly from person to person. For example, some people will expect more from their first apartment and be unplesasantly surprised by the quality of dorms, while others will be happy to have parties nightly and care little for amenities and safety.

Additionally, management and policy is ever shifting and may not be the same year to year.

Throughout this, you should know one thing: like all companies, they are there to make money, and you are not a priority. A pretty young face making promises and showing you a nice model unit is not a guarantee of anything. Read your agreements carefully and be prepared to fight for your living conditions, especially if you’re supposedly getting a “good deal”.

On-Campus Housing

  • Chaparral Village
  • University Oaks
    • While technically on campus, it’s not directly managed by UTSA and is also farther.
    • This technicality means that it has many of the same restrictions/benefits of on-campus housing.
    • No meal plan requirement.
    • Try to prefer Phase 3, and avoid Phase 1. Phase 3 has two nearby bus stops in BR5/BR4.
    • 2x2 is ideal for space/privacy/cost ratio.
    • Try to re-arrange and move your bed around if the space is too small (it probably is).
    • Con: If you have any security issues (e.g. car is broken into), University Oaks will not help you. They will not relesae security footage to you, and they will not help you with any damages.
  • Alvarez Hall
  • Chisholm Hall
  • Guadalupe Hall
  • Laurel Village

Nearby Off-Campus

UTSA maintains a list of off-campus housing options here.

You should know that many of these places in the general vicinity are owned by the same company, and thus will have similar rules, qualities, and practices.

The options below are not exhaustive, and focus primarily on the Main Campus (Northside) area.

  • The Luxx
    • Pro: Direct bus route to campus
    • Con: Loud wind noise both on interior and exterior facing rooms
    • Con:Loud parties
    • Con: Volleyball court that is often quite loud
    • Con: Elevators are often broken
    • Con: Occasional loud sportscars
  • Tetro Student Village
  • The Outpost
  • Avalon Place
  • Campus Edge
  • High View
  • Hill Country Place
  • Maverick Creek Villas
  • Prado Student Living
  • Villas at Babcock
  • The Reserve
    • Pro: Direct bus route to campus (engineering building).
    • Con: Drugs & Guns: My experience here has found many smokers, and hearing gunshots within and around the property is not uncommon.
    • Con: Tricky leasing agreements, impossible to get out of without a replacement.
    • Con: You won’t see the unit before you move in. You also won’t know it’s location.

TODO

  • Subleasing
    • Subreddit, Facebook Group, Snapchat
  • Roommates