University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, or USF, is a public university located in Tampa, Florida, USA, with branch campuses in St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Lakeland. The main campus is located in the extreme northern part of Tampa, near the city of Temple Terrace, and is in close proximity to the Museum of Science and Industry as well as Busch Gardens and the University Mall shopping center.

Housing

Unlike many Florida universities, USF is primarily a "commuter" school, in which students live off-campus or at home and drive to class. Despite demand for on-campus housing rising for the last five years, less than ten percent of USF's student body lives in a university residence hall.

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In recent years, Residence Services acquired the houses of various fraternities and sororities on campus, and let the lease expire on Fontana Hall, located outside campus boundaries. Older residence halls, such as Beta Hall (which houses freshmen only), Betty Castor Hall (formerly Gamma Hall, women-only), and Kosove Apartments (formerly Alpha Hall, upperclassmen) received extensive remodeling in the early 2000s.

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Most housing on-campus was built rapidly from 1960 to 1965, and each hall was named after a Greek letter. Betty Castor's contributions to the University, and A. Harrison and Ruth Kosove's donations have caused two of the "Greek letter" halls to be renamed. Newer housing subdivisions, such as the Cypress Suites and Apartments, Maple Hall, Holly Apartments, and the Magnolia Apartments, were built starting in the late 1990s, with the Cypress complex last to be completed, in the summer of 2004.

Related Topics:
1960 - 1965 - Greek letter - 1990s - 2004

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