This commentary is by state Rep. Carol Ode, D-Burlington, serving her fourth term in the House and elected by the General Assembly to represent Vermont as a legislative trustee on the University of Vermont Board of Trustees.
Service to Vermont and its communities is a guiding principle for the University of Vermont. As a trustee and an elected official, I see the inextricable link between the success of UVM and the success of all of Vermont.
Thousands of UVM-educated leaders help guide our workforces and communities. UVM fosters cutting-edge research by attracting talented and innovative individuals and the resources crucial to their success. UVM builds invaluable partnerships across all 14 counties and provides vital education to community members through programs in Professional and Continuing Education and UVM Extension. The university serves as a vital cog in the state’s economic engine by driving more than $1 billion in economic activity in Vermont each year.
UVM is committed to access and affordability for Vermonters. We have frozen tuition for five successive years and unveiled the UVM Promise, offering tuition-free college for Vermonters whose families earn less than $60,000. These efforts help draw students from outside as well as inside of Vermont’s borders.
As Vermont continues to prioritize attracting more new residents and workers, UVM has functioned as a unique talent pipeline that contributes more than 1,000 graduates each year to companies and communities all across our state. More than half of those 1,000 graduates come from out of state to attend UVM, only to discover that this is where they truly want to live and work. By providing an educational opportunity that opens the door to a career and potential lifetime residency here, the university serves as a gateway to growth that is critical to Vermont’s future.
The university’s rededication to student success in the last several years includes a commitment to providing a comprehensive residential experience for first- and second-year students. The community-building, recreational and academic programming, and support services in student residence halls, are hallmarks of the UVM experience.
We feel strongly that first- and second-year students must have access to that experience, and we are one of the few flagship universities that requires them to live on campus and guarantees housing for them to do so.
UVM’s “Our Common Ground” values guide UVM’s confidence in and commitment to a residential experience that creates and fosters community on and around campus. Community doesn’t just help draw prospective students; it helps those who choose UVM to graduate as more well-rounded citizens who better contribute as people and professionals to Vermont’s well-being. By creating this community, we create opportunities for students to grow, and in turn they help enhance our state.
UVM’s commitment and work toward student success and toward serving every corner of Vermont is happening in a state and region where housing is among our greatest challenges.
Vermont has, for decades, contended with one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the nation — below the 3 percent threshold considered healthy. That low vacancy rate is especially challenging in areas that have experienced the largest population growth.
Census data shows that Chittenden County’s population grew by 7.7 percent between 2010 and 2021, outpacing the national growth rate and more than double the rate of Vermont as a whole. As of the second quarter of 2022, Chittenden County’s rental vacancy rate stood at 0.8% — its lowest point in more than 20 years.
The university recognizes the severity of the housing situation. UVM is determined to do its part in helping work toward a solution. We are actively seeking to expand housing for first- and second-year students, exploring the expansion of upper-class housing, and undertaking projects to build for graduate students, staff and faculty.
Progress at Catamount Run project in South Burlington’s City Center has accelerated and we are now on pace to add more than 500 beds by summer 2025.
Another part of the university’s housing solution are its plans for UVM’s Trinity Campus. Zoning changes approved by the Planning Commission in December would allow us to meaningfully expand the community-oriented and student-focused living and learning area on Trinity Campus.
Already home to a vibrant arts and creativity learning community, Trinity holds the potential for enhancements to its character — including not only new beds, but new dining facilities and more modern, refined spaces — that would enhance the student experience in line with our plan’s central focus of prioritizing community-building for students and increasing the appeal of living on campus.
As a trustee, I am part of a board that seeks ways to enhance the student experience and to support student success. Housing is one way to serve our students, community and state. It is a key component of our academic, support and service infrastructure, which is well-balanced for our current and future goal: a first-year class enrollment of approximately 3,000 students yearly. (More information can be found at www.uvm.edu/future.)
Those principles are central to UVM’s success and to my duty as one of its trustees. Making sure our students and the university succeed is the best way to ensure that Burlington and the state succeed as well.
UVM continues on a path forward, one on which we want to travel together with the city of Burlington.