<p>I am very interested, but I am concerned that only 19% of students live in campus housing. I do NOT want a commuter school. TIA!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=350”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=350</a> says that 69% of frosh and 17% of all students live in the dorms. The frosh percentage is often a reasonable proxy for resident (as opposed to commuter) students; the overall percentage is less useful, since many resident non-frosh at many schools live nearby off-campus, and the usual stats provided do not distinguish them from commuters.</p>
<p>If the frosh percentage is a reasonable proxy for resident students, it appears that DePaul is mostly residents, but with a substantial minority of commuters.</p>
<p>UCB nailed it. Like many urban schools, DePaul will always have a strong commuter component, but roughly 2 out of 3 freshmen live on-campus and most upperclass students prefer to live in apartments in the surrounding neighborhoods, which are comfortable and attractive (if a bit pricey in some locations). As a result, student life centers more on campus and the immediately surrounding community than at a true commuter school.</p>
<p>Contrast DePaul with the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC), where only 31% of freshmen and 18% of all students live on campus. Even as freshmen, a majority of UIC students commute. Many freshmen probably commute from their parents’ homes. By the time they’re upperclassmen, many seek rental housing more convenient to the UIC campus (though not necessarily in the immediately surrounding neighborhoods).</p>
<p>On the other hand, DePaul is a bit more commuter-oriented than crosstown rival Loyola, where 92% of freshmen and 41% of all students live on-campus. Some of this may just be a function of location: Loyola is tucked away in a quiet lakefront neighborhood on the city’s far Northside. DePaul is in a busier neighborhood much closer to downtown with better transit and highway connections, and UIC is just west of the Loop with transit and highway connections to the entire metropolitan region.</p>