We make it easy to find your community here. No application fees. No security deposits.
Application Steps & Tips
Step 1: Verify your eligibility. Enter your information in the online application and you will receive a confirmation email. Note: If you wish to apply to live at Academe at 198, please visit their website and apply through UC Law SF.
Step 2: Receive an “application completed” email once your application has been reviewed and approved. Wait for Housing Services to contact you with an offer for placement. If we do not contact you within 30 days of your need date, it means we do not have a suitable space for you. You should continue to seek off-campus housing. To check an application status, login to the Housing Portal and select Apply Here. Your application status is listed on the Application Term page.
Step 3: If we contact you to offer a space, you will have three (3) business days to read and sign the Housing Agreement and make your initial monthly payment. This is a legally binding agreement, so be sure to carefully read and sign it.
Tips
1) Fill out the application as much as possible, even if it’s not a required field.
2) It is required to upload your eligibility documentation.
3) Please submit only one application, regardless of where you want to live or what type of accommodation you want. If you applied with us in the past and cannot access your application, please email us to have your application reactivated. Duplicate applications may result in a longer response time.
4) Our confirmation emails may take up to 3 days (or longer during the Spring months).
Timeline & Priority
Timeline: UCSF Housing generally makes housing offers 30 to 90 days in advance. We do sometimes book apartments with shorter notice if we have an immediate vacancy that matches your housing preferences and preferred move-in months. We offer apartments as soon as we know they are available, year-round.
Priority: UCSF Housing prioritizes student, trainee, and faculty applications over staff and other eligible affiliate applications. Families with children receive priority for 2- and 3-bedroom units.
Please Note: We are unable to offer short-term housing (less than 12 months). Please see the Short-Term Lodging Guide for off-campus short-term options.
Housing spaces are offered through a randomized selection process based on the applicant’s move-in month and the type of apartment they are interested in. Applicants may specify up to 3 move-in months and up to 3 unit types on their application. For example, those who need a 1-bedroom apartment on July 15 will be placed in an applicant pool with all other applicants who are interested in 1-bedroom apartments in July.
Applicants who are “New” to UCSF have priority over continuing UCSF affiliates. “New” means you have never been a student or worked at UCSF in the past and that you are applying for housing in the same term in which your program starts. Every applicant’s “New” status expires each May 31 (Example: If your program began March 1, 2025, you will be considered “new” through May 31, 2025. If your program starts July 1, 2025, you will be considered “new” through May 31, 2026.)
Housing Services will offer units based on your application preferences, so please be sure you are willing and prepared to accept any of the property types for which you are applying. If you decline a housing offer, you may request to keep your application active. You may make changes to your preferences in the Housing Portal. Please email housingassignments@ucsf.edu if you have found housing elsewhere.
Occupancy Term Limits
All Residents are welcome to live in UCSF Housing for up to 5 years. Students currently enrolled in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP, joint MD/PhD program) may live in UCSF Housing for up to 9 years. Term limits are cumulative in a lifetime, regardless of university affiliation or break in tenancy. After being a primary Resident in any combination of UCSF-owned properties up to the term limit, the Resident will be required to move and find alternative housing accommodations. Time living in UCSF Housing on someone else’s lease is not counted toward this occupancy term limit.
The program at Academe at 198 has no occupancy term limits. Former Residents of UCSF campus properties may apply to live at Academe at 198 without term limit restrictions. Any years spent at Academe at 198 do not count against term limits at other UCSF-owned properties.
Getting Campus Housing
Watch our new applicant info session event recording to learn tips for securing campus housing, details about our properties, how the assignments process works, and more.
Watch Now
