The university is working to provide more affordable housing options and assist students during the housing shortage in Abilene. 

Living off campus has become more expensive as rental prices have increased in response to Stargate AI Data Center projects and a higher demand for housing. Kevin Campbell, senior vice president for operations, said the issue began to impact students more as they prepare to find off-campus housing or sign lease renewals for next year.

“We’re starting to experience some of those students who are desiring additional help from the university to help them locate some housing,” Campbell said.

He said that this year the university received more interest in students looking to stay in the University Park Apartments.

“University Park has been very popular, but the number of applicants this year was much greater than what we received in years past,” Campbell said. “We also are having a very high demand for the off-campus houses that we own in the neighborhood nearby. The moment that one becomes available, we get many, many calls on those.”

Outside of the current housing options, the university is in the process of adding new apartment buildings, Campbell said. He said the first building will be open by August 15, and additional facilities will be open before the next semester in the spring. 

“We are getting started immediately on some apartments,” Campbell said. “It could be that we add up to 300 additional beds and apartments in the next 18 months. Still trying to finalize those plans, but trying to utilize the information from the city to help us make the best plans for the long-term housing for our students.”

The first building will be located west of Dillard and house about 45 students. He said they will begin moving dirt on the property this week. 

“We’re going to do it right, and do it well,” Campbell said. “We’re going to have a lot of long days and weekends to get that first one stood up by August.”

Shannon Kaczmarek, dean of community living and wellness, on Feb. 26 emailed students a survey, which asked questions about students’ plans for housing in the 2026-27 school year. Campbell said the new building will likely house sophomores long-term.

“We’re trying to see what the demand is going to be on the existing sophomore halls, and if we’re kind of at capacity, then we’ll put sophomores in there,” Campbell said. “If it feels like the existing facilities are going to be able to handle the sophomores, then we will try to make it available to juniors, seniors and graduate students.”

In total, the university is currently exploring the development of up to five new apartment buildings, which would house approximately 300 students. Those five buildings would have about 160 units.

Campbell said the university is exploring temporary housing options for students for about a month or two before the second and third apartment buildings are complete.

“We’re kind of building them together, but we’ll be staging them where we can have one complete by the start of school and hopefully one complete in late September.”

The buildings will be apartment-style, and Campbell described them as a combination of UP and Dillard.

“Right now, the early model,” Campbell said. “In order just to break even on the housing, it would be priced similar to Dillard.”

Campbell said the university has also discussed pricing with other apartments and off-campus houses.

“We are working with some local groups to see if we can try to get an ACU rate at some places to see if we can help control the price in that way. We are buying any house that we see near campus that’s reasonable in order to try to charge students a more reasonable rate for the rental of a house near campus.”

The future of housing demand in Abilene remains unknown as the Stargate Data center continues to develop, which has already brought over 6,000 workers to town, according to the Texas Standard. However, Campbell said he has been in contact with the city to determine how the university should approach the issue.

“The conversation we had with the city is trying to better understand what the short-term and long-term impact is, and how we’re expecting the surge of workers to be here for the data centers. Also, just trying to understand what trends are happening in Abilene, which will help us understand what our short-term and long-term approaches are.”

If students have concerns about housing for next year, they can reach out to Residence Life for assistance.

“If any students are having problems with housing, don’t go at it alone,” Campbell said. “Let us know that they are looking. We may be able to help them with properties that we own, or the more that we understand what the real needs are, we’ll try to use our influence to help students get the housing they need.”

Campbell said other projects are also in the works.

“There’s a few other things that we’re working on that we’re not willing to share just yet,” Campbell said. “We’re trying to work on some other ways to help open up some additional spaces for our students.”