Traditions East will become strictly freshman housing due to large incoming freshman classes, while Traditions West and Kraettli Apartments will remain upperclassmen housing, OU Housing and Residence Life announced in a mass email Thursday.
The university will shift from phase 1 to phase 2 of the OU First-Year Housing Master Plan, making available beds for returning students limited, according to the email.
Phase 1 includes providing 1,150 beds for first-year students by demolishing Adams Center in spring 2023 to build McCasland Hall, which was finished fall 2025, and the South Building, set to be finished fall 2026.
According to the email, this change will help accommodate continued growth in student enrollment.
“This milestone represents our commitment to creating exceptional residential experiences that support your success and accommodate our university's continued growth,” the email reads.
Traditions Square’s current capacity is 1,125 students, OU Marketing and Communications wrote in an email to OU Daily Thursday.
The university requires all first-year students to live on campus, apart from a few exceptions, including:
• Students who are married
• Students with children
• Students who are 21 or older
• Students that have at least 24 hours of college credit from an accredited institution
• Students that have lived in university residence halls for two semesters
• Students living in Cleveland or McClain counties since at least senior year of high school
• Or students that have verifiable financial, medical or exceptional needs that cannot otherwise be adequately addressed by university housing
Students may apply for exemption on the university’s housing portal for review by the University Housing Review Committee.
The email encourages students to begin exploring housing options early as application deadlines approach. The upperclassmen housing application will open Nov. 24 with contract offers sentFeb. 18. Off-campus housing options can be found on OU’s off-campus housing website
OU’s first-year enrollment has increased 20% each academic year for the past two years, with 6,229 first-year students enrolled for the 2025-26 academic year, according to OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. The university reported an 11% increase in enrollment from the 2024-25 academic year.
This story was edited by Thomas Pablo and Natalie Armour. Ryan Little and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
