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Housing Options

Apply to the MFA Program

A variety of housing options and transportation are available in the Wilmington area. Here are some resources that MFA students have found helpful.

Housing

Housing is available both on-campus and off-campus. (There may be some limited on-campus housing allocated for graduate students in Seahawk Landing.) Most MFA students prefer to live off-campus and with roommates as a cost-saving option, often in historic downtown or—albeit less common—at Wrightsville Beach or Carolina Beach.

Several downtown private rental properties have been kept in the MFA program for years and continue to be popular choices. Available rentals are also regularly publicized by current MFA students and faculty via e-mail and the Facebook groups for accepted applicants and current MFA students.

The Wilmington area offers a wide range of housing options—here are some resources graduate students have found helpful:

Here's a brief list of Wilmington apartments by neighborhood.

Here is a listing with apartments close to campus.

Prefer a house to an apartment?

Take a peek at what's available:

Carolina Place/Ardmore is a desirable neighborhood for graduate students and young professionals. Also see the Historic District along 4th St., downtown between Market and Castle streets.

Interested in demographic data and neighborhood crime rates?

See demographic data from Neighborhood Scout, and also neighborhoods ranked safest (list at right).

SpotCrime provides a crime mapping tool (free sign-up to search tool).

Need more help finding housing? Check out Off-Campus Student Services!

Transportation

The local bus system Wave Transit is free for registered UNCW students with a student ID. Busses are generally reliable, but run on a 30-minute or 1-hour loop, so planning is key. Bicycle racks are affixed to the front of busses.

The Seahawk Shuttle (part of Wave) runs several routes within a one-mile radius to campus, stopping at apartment complexes and shopping centres.

Wilmington has historically not been a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly city, but recent improvements have given us the Gary Shell Cross City Trail (a multi-use trail that also runs through campus) and the River to Sea Bikeway (starting downtown and officially ending just before the bridge at Wrightsville Beach).

See this Regional Bike Suitability Map for its color-coded route recommendations for cycling in the Wilmington area. See also UNCW's Hawk Wheels Bike Support and Bird Bike Share program, the East Coast Greenway, and Cape Fear Cyclists for more resources.

Additional Links

These links are set to direct you to Wilmington/UNCW-area resources specifically: