Image courtesy of Cube3 Architects

Dartmouth College plans to pour $500 million into undergraduate housing construction, thanks in part to a $30 million donation.

The school’s undergraduate and graduate students struggle to find housing in Lebanon and Hanover that they can afford, and the presence of thousands of students in the local rental market puts pressure on locals who may not have the same financial resources, local leaders say.

“We have a historic opportunity to sustainably expand and reimagine the infrastructure for residential student housing that supports our academic mission and preserves the walkability of campus and the small-town character of Hanover,” College President Sian Leah Beilock said in a statement.

The school is kicking off a $165 million fundraising campaign to help generate money to build the school’s first undergraduate housing buildings in 20 years.

“It is crucial that we create more high quality, energy efficient housing on and around campus in order to attract the best talent to Dartmouth at every level – student, faculty, and staff – and to help alleviate the shortage in our region,” Beilock said. “At a time when our society is facing both a climate crisis and what the surgeon general calls an epidemic of loneliness, we are designing housing that will help foster wellness, social connection, and belonging while reducing our carbon footprint.”

The school wants to offer on-campus beds to more than 90 percent of undergraduates. Currently 85 percent of undergraduates live on campus, Dartmouth says.

The new housing will rise on a series of lots along Hanover’s West Wheelock Street that the college has bought up in recent years, including a 285-bed building, to be called Russo Hall after Dartmouth graduates Gina and Thomas Russo, who gave $30 million towards the housing initiative.