With on-campus student housing currently operating at 125% capacity and many more students expected to enroll by 2010, university-owned housing is quickly filling up.

On campus, there is limited space for upper-division undergraduates and transfer students and virtually no room for graduate and professional students, according to UCLA Housing administrators. Off campus, university-owned housing is also operating at a maximum, with more than 2,600 students, faculty and postdoctoral scholars living in nearby complexes.

"This clearly is a decade of growth for housing," said Director of Housing and Hospitality Services Michael Foraker, who recently unveiled the 2000-2010 Student Housing Master Plan, shaped by a committee of two dozen faculty, students and administrators. Supported by Chancellor Albert Carnesale, the master plan calls for constructing or acquiring up to 4,800 new bed spaces within the next decade. That will bring to 14,499 the number of students in university-owned housing -- 39% of the projected student population.

The plan also proposes changes in the campus housing guarantee policy, increasing from two to four years the guarantee for incoming freshmen, and from one year to two for transfer students. Also -- a campus first -- single graduate students will be guaranteed two years of housing.

It's quite a change from the largely commuter campus UCLA was just 15 years ago, when only 12% of students lived on campus. With that transformation has come another: The College of Letters and Science, the Office of Residential Life, and Housing and Hospitality Services have partnered to provide academic-oriented learning in residence halls.

"The housing master plan is really driven by the academic community," said Foraker.

There is, for example, the Faculty-in-Residence program, in which tenure-track faculty live side by side with students, making close interaction possible and even common. Residence halls also have dedicated space for classes, tutoring and academic counseling.

According to research data, students benefit from living in campus housing, said Foraker: Residential students have a slightly higher GPA than students who commute, are more likely to graduate in four years and more likely to pursue advanced degrees. And at graduation, they're more likely to report greater satisfaction with their educational experience. Students living on campus find it easier to get to the library and to form study groups. Students in campus housing also are more likely to take part in the larger campus community life, from joining student organizations to attending athletic events.

"It's much tougher for commuting students to do those things," Foraker said. "It doesn't mean they can't do those things, but it's more of a struggle for them."

Guaranteeing housing for graduate students, Foraker said, will help UCLA retain its status as a worldwide leader in graduate education and research. "They're much more likely to accept UCLA's offer," he said, "if they know at the time of recruitment that there's a place for them to stay and help available to adjust to university life and the rigors of academia."

Construction on proposed housing projects in the northwest campus could begin as early as fall, subject to the UC regents' approval. In addition, workers are slated to begin building apartment-style housing for graduate students in the southwest campus by this fall.