FAQs

The amount of academic space and housing Stanford can build on its core academic lands is governed by a general use permit (GUP). The current permit is 25 years old, and Stanford is now approaching the limit of the new academic space it authorizes. The university's and the community's needs related to teaching and research, housing, transportation, and sustainability have evolved significantly over that time.

StanfordNext will shape the university's application for a new GUP that will unlock exciting opportunities for Stanford to build new academic facilities that address pressing challenges facing our region and the world and to engage with the community on housing and transportation solutions that support the university and its neighbors.

Stanford is in the process of developing a detailed proposal. We’re exploring how the university can meet its academic needs through a plan that also reflects the feedback we’ve heard over the past year. The first phase of StanfordNext was focused on listening and learning through community open houses, on-campus engagement, the StanfordNext Advisory Council, meetings with faculty, staff, and university leadership, and briefings with local jurisdictions and Santa Clara County leaders. We’re now using that input, along with technical analysis and institutional planning, to help shape our plan and we anticipate sharing additional details as they are developed over the coming months.

No. StanfordNext is focused on planning for Stanford’s future within the university’s existing academic campus lands. The plan will not expand the campus boundaries into surrounding neighborhoods.

Yes. The first phase of StanfordNext was designed to gather input before defining the university’s plan. Over the past several months, we’ve heard from community members, campus constituencies, advisory groups, and local leaders through a range of formats and forums.

Feedback from these groups has been critical to this process and is being reviewed alongside the university’s long-term needs and priorities as we work to shape StanfordNext’s approach to housing, academic space, transportation, sustainability, and other key issues.

StanfordNext is committed to ensuring that peak hour commute trips arriving to campus in the morning and leaving in the afternoon do not exceed the baseline established in 2001, and is focused on implementing new pedestrian, bicycle, and transit improvements to make it easier to get to, from, and around the campus without relying on a car.

Transportation is one of the central issues informing StanfordNext. Stanford has heard clearly that traffic and mobility remain top concerns for surrounding communities, and that input is helping shape the planning now underway. Responsible transportation planning and addressing traffic will be a major component of the plan, and our goal is to develop a strategy that is responsive to both university needs and local and regional conditions.

Housing is one of the most consistent topics raised during the listening phase. Stanford is now considering how the feedback we’ve heard, together with the university’s own housing needs and broader regional conditions, can help inform the plan. No final decisions have been made, but providing housing for the university’s students and its workforce will be a core part of the plan.

StanfordNext is examining opportunities to build workforce housing at transit-adjacent locations on campus, providing university workers with the ability to live close to their jobs and commute sustainably while reducing housing pressures on surrounding communities. Because the challenge of housing affordability extends beyond the Stanford campus, the plan is also exploring ways to further invest in new affordable housing solutions throughout the region.

Sustainability and stewardship are important considerations in StanfordNext. As we move from listening to shaping the plan, those priorities will continue to inform how the university thinks about growth, infrastructure, mobility, and the long-term resilience of the campus.

We’ve heard strong interest in how this process can create benefits not only for the university, but for the broader community as well. That input is part of what Stanford is now considering as it begins to shape its plan. We’re interested to know your ideas for programs and partnerships — please use the contact form on this website to share more!