UCI opens Oso Tower, adding more than 400 new student beds to campus housing

UC Irvine has opened Oso Tower, a five-story student housing complex with 424 undergraduate beds and a new community center.

The building offers a wide variety of amenities for students, officials said, including wellness rooms, small-group study rooms, open study spaces, bike maintenance stations and views of the San Joaquin Marsh. There is also a recreation center, study counters with integrated power and lighting, laundry facilities and mail services.

UC Irvine new Oso Tower in Irvine, CA, on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. Oso Tower is the newest student housing complex to open at UC Irvine. The five-floor dorm offers 424 undergraduate beds and a new community center. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

UC Irvine’s new Oso Tower features an ablution room in Irvine, CA, on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. The room serves as a place where students can perform ablution, a ritual cleansing ritual before prayer or religious practices. Oso Tower is the newest student housing complex to open at UC Irvine. The five-floor dorm offers 424 undergraduate beds and a new community center. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman, left, and Willie Banks, vice chancellor of student affairs, use giant scissors to cut a ceremonial ribbon for the opening of Oso Tower in Irvine, CA, on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. Oso Tower is the newest student housing complex to open at UC Irvine. The five-floor dorm offers 424 undergraduate beds and a new community center. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Oso Tower was partially funded by a $65 million state grant. Revenue from the new dorm will go toward 486 student housing grants that will offer $3,870 each. Students are set to start moving in on Friday, Sept. 19. The new academic year gets underway Sept. 25.

UCI now offers 17,793 student beds across its dorms, apartments and graduate housing. It has the third-largest housing availability among California universities, according to campus officials.

Campus housing isn’t required, but first-year and transfer students who ask for it are guaranteed a spot for their first two years. Newly admitted students pursuing a full-time doctoral or the highest degree in their field, are guaranteed housing for the length of their programs.

The university says it has opened five new housing complexes since 2016.