OSCA is a student-owned and student-operated non-profit corporation that provides at-cost housing and dining services to hundreds of students at Oberlin.
OSCA is an acronym for the Oberlin Student Cooperative Association. It is pronounced “AH-skuh”. If you hear people refer to “the co-ops,” they’re probably talking about OSCA.
615 Oberlin students—about 22% of campus—are members of OSCA each semester. 174 of these co-opers are in housing co-ops, meaning they eat, sleep, and live in co-ops.
A co-op is a business directly controlled by its members. Members are user-owners; they patronize the business but also own its earnings and assets equally.
Third World Co-op (located in Baldwin, no affiliation to Third World House) is a special interest co-op, geared to serve specific needs that the other co-ops may not
OSCA charges less than the College-run programs for both housing and dining. Most underclass students are required to live on campus, and almost all students eat on campus.
In the Spring, students returning to Oberlin fill out an OSCA Upperclass Lottery Form (online) listing all their co-op preferences (as well as checking off OSCA as a preference on the Residential E
New students must participate in the new student lottery by going to OSCA’s website and filling out the new student application form. The new student lottery is held mid-June.
The longer answer: Due to our tax status, we cannot prioritize any student over another on the wait list. However, if you are already in OSCA, there are ways to switch you between co-ops.
Due to our rent contract with the college, co-op releases can only be processed on certain days, and become effective by our effective dates. These dates are outlined HERE .
Did you fill out the Fall/Spring wait list confirmation form? If not, you are no longer on the wait list! If you did, it may just be that no vacancies have opened up yet!
OSCA offers significant savings over regular campus dining and housing. At the end of each financial year, any leftover money is refunded to the membership.
Assuming your co-op stayed under budget throughout the fiscal year, you will receive a refund check after the end of the prior year fiscal year (June 30th), likely in late October or early November
