by Ulises Silva
In late August, La Casa Student Housing opened its doors for a new academic year and welcomed 62 new students—tripling last year’s total occupancy. It’s an exciting jump in enrollment that underscores the fact that more students are hearing about La Casa—and more of them are choosing it as a place to live, learn, and thrive together.
Like last year, this year’s students arrive with one goal: to earn their bachelor’s degrees. Whether it means completing a current four-year program or transferring from an existing two-year program into a bachelor’s, La Casa’s students came here knowing that they will get the support they need.
Most of that support will come from Maria Bucio, Director of La Casa who has worked tirelessly not just to spread word of La Casa to students and schools, but to make each and every student feel like part of the La Casa family.
“We’re so excited about our new students,” says Bucio. “They came here with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and they’re committed to earning their bachelor’s degree. I’m looking forward to working with all of them and helping them realize their potential.”
Among La Casa’s new students are Montserrat Cazares and Ulises Bahena, two UIC students who heard about La Casa from friends.
“I love living here, I love being in Pilsen, I love being so close to school,” says Montserrat Cazares, who is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Spanish and Italian at UIC. “It’s definitely getting me more involved in school.”
For Bahena, La Casa was a chance to finally have a quiet place to study while getting the academic support he needed.
“La Casa is closer to campus,” he says, “and people help you out a lot here. You don’t have to be alone. At home I wouldn’t really have the quiet and peace to be able to succeed.”
As students are seeing, La Casa isn’t just about studying. It’s about building friendships and experiencing the kind of student camaraderie that they’d find on-campus. Movie nights and late-night study groups are already part of life at La Casa, but on Saturday, September 28, a large group of La Casa students went to see the Chicago White Sox in action at U.S. Cellular Field.
“That’s what I want our students to know,” says Bucio. “That college life is about getting the support you need to succeed, but also the companionship of friends and colleagues so that you have fun while earning your degree.”
As word of La Casa continues to spread, more students are hearing about its benefits as a student housing option that combines the benefits and community of on-campus living with the affordability of off-campus housing. Some of these students, in fact, come from as far away as the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); more than 50 UNAM students made La Casa their casa during the summer as part of an international exchange between UNAM and UNAM’s Chicago campus.
“La Casa is fast becoming what we dreamed it would become,” says Bucio. “A place that students from all across the city and even the world want to come to and share in the experience of living, learning, and thriving together under one roof.”

To see more photos from life at La Casa, visit the La Casa Facebook page!

Return to Nueva Vida October 2013 here.