"Tired of Talking with Roommates"... College Students Packing Up in Dormitories

8 Out of 10 Dormitories Fail to Meet Application Quotas
Privacy Concerns and Aging Facilities Among Key Issues

Jung (24), a student at Dongguk University, has been able to sleep deeply at night since January. This change came after moving from the dormitory to a studio apartment near the school. When he lived in the dormitory, he was often awakened at night by his roommate talking on the phone with his girlfriend. Jung said, "I repeatedly asked him to be careful, but my roommate only said he would watch his words, yet he talked on the phone every night," adding, "I got tired and stressed from the constant talking, so I left the dormitory."

On the 7th, in front of a university in Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, flyers advertising one-room and boarding rooms are densely posted ahead of the new semester. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Recently, as the popularity of university dormitories has waned, it has been found that 8 out of 10 dormitories have fewer applicants than their recruitment quotas. Since dormitories rarely offer single rooms and mostly have double or more occupancy rooms, students who prioritize living convenience and privacy are leaving.

According to the Korea Private School Promotion Foundation on the 7th, among 48 general universities in Seoul last year, 41 (85.4%) experienced under-enrollment in dormitory residents. The dormitory competition rate steadily increased from 1.04 to 1 in 2020, to 1.09 to 1 in 2021, 1.24 to 1 in 2022, and 1.44 to 1 in 2023, but it sharply dropped to 0.30 to 1 last year.

Originally, dormitories were popular among students because their housing costs were much cheaper than other housing types like studios. Last year, the average monthly dormitory fees were 425,000 KRW for single rooms, 302,100 KRW for double rooms, 249,600 KRW for triple rooms, and 258,200 KRW for quadruple rooms. In contrast, according to an analysis by Dabang (operated by Station3), a real estate information platform, the average monthly rent for a 33㎡ studio (with a 10 million KRW deposit) near the top 10 universities in Seoul in January last year was 574,000 KRW.

However, with the rise of single-child families born after the decline in birth rates and a growing trend of valuing privacy, many university students are seeking "quality of life over money." Among 27,880 dormitory rooms in Seoul universities, 84.5% (23,547 rooms) are double or more occupancy. Many students say, "There are times I want to rest alone, but having a roommate is difficult," and "It is hard to live inevitably mixed with others."

The aging of dormitory buildings is also a factor in avoidance. According to the Korea Council for University Education, the average construction year of 302 university dormitory buildings in Seoul last year was 2004. Among them, 145 buildings are over 20 years old. Lee (23), a university student in the metropolitan area, said, "Dormitories are cheap, but the buildings are so old that mold sometimes grows in summer," adding, "Since they are old buildings, it is inconvenient to use shared bathrooms without private restrooms."

Nowadays, many students take a leave of absence to prepare for employment, but they cannot live in dormitories either. Most dormitories only allow current students to apply. The increase in students on leave for job preparation is also a cause of the decline in dormitory popularity. A university student (26) said, "If you prepare for a job, you have to leave the dormitory anyway," adding, "It is not bad to live in a studio with reasonable rent while building a good relationship with the landlord and giving trust as a long-term tenant."

Professor Seo Jin-hyung of the Department of Real Estate Law at Kwangwoon University said, "It would be good to increase single rooms and improve building quality through dormitory reconstruction and redevelopment projects, but due to the low profitability of dormitory projects, it is difficult to promote such projects," adding, "Realistically, the only option is to create separate low-cost and high-cost dormitories to differentiate quality."