Interesting, availability must differ by college, because my S had that exact same time too and told me roughly half the 60 apartments in his college were still available when he picked. But a priori you just don’t know which colleges have the most housing and there’s no indication that you should consider that when choosing a college.
So we obviously haven’t had to look off campus yet, but I was expecting to pay 12 months times $1800 or so, just based on the budget for his older brother at UCLA five years earlier (who was paying $1325 plus utilities for a shared 1 bed).
I do agree about the personality needed to succeed with housing. My S was fortunate that his roommate is outgoing and was able to pull together their housing group. My kid would never have done that on his own and I can’t imagine him trying to get organized to apply for housing off campus.