Jul 01, 2026 – Jane Seyd/North Shore News
When kinesiology student Manroop Kaur first started attending Capilano University, she lived in Burnaby, across the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. It was the closest place she could afford at the time, she said.
“I spent three hours commuting and I had three hours of classes.” The commute left her with little energy and she stopped going to university events, daunted by the time it would take her to get home.
That all changed in her third year when she moved into the university’s nearby temporary student dorm on Dollarton Highway.
Whether it was a trivia night down the hall or a movie night someone knocked on her door to invite her to, being with other students was a game changer, said Kaur.
“I didn’t have to go looking for a connection. It just shows up. The hours I had been pouring into commuting, I poured them back into my life.”
Now, students at Capilano University will have an even bigger opportunity to take part in campus life with the opening of CapU’s first-ever on-campus housing.
On Monday, politicians, students and university leaders were on hand to celebrate the official opening of the North Van campus’s new student housing residence.
The new six-storey building, known as Treehouse (or Lam̓íwa/θqétəw̓tx) will provide living space for 360 students in a mix of single and double dorm rooms. The student residence also includes a 250-seat dining hall, shared kitchens, washrooms and laundry, administrative space, a multipurpose room, student study and lounge spaces, and secure bike storage.
All rooms at the new residence come with a built-in meal plan. The cost of living in residence is $6,250 per term for a shared double room and meals, which works out to about $1,800 per month. The cost of a private room with meals is $7,150 for about $2,000 per month.
The first 50 students moved into the new building in May, with full occupancy expected when the fall university term starts in September.
The opening of the residence this week marks a major milestone for the university.
Since 2017, the university has been renting a former boarding school on Old Dollarton Road for student housing from property owner Darwin Properties. But that arrangement was always slated to be a temporary fix until more permanent student housing was completed.
The new residence was built over three years at a cost of $58.2 million. Of that, the province provided a $12.5 grant plus a $29 million loan towards construction, while Capilano University kicked in $16.7 million. University leaders said Monday they were lucky to have locked in a construction contract before prices began their dramatic escalation. The same building starting construction today would likely cost much more, they said.
“Investments like this don’t just support students, they support the whole community here on the North Shore. By creating more on-campus housing, we’re easing pressure on the local rental market,” said Minister of Infrastructure and North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Bowinn Ma.
Read the full article at nsnews.com.