Welcome to the World of the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan!

Co-operative movements, including the ICC, have a long history. Here you can find more about the Inter-Cooperative Council in Ann Arbor as well as find links to other cooperatives.

We are the ICC, one of the largest student housing cooperatives in the country.  We were established in 1932 and since that time we have successfully provided affordable, quality housing to thousands of students from all around the world.

Today approximately 600 members belong to our co-op and they collectively own and manage 21 properties.  19 of these properties are the houses that we live in and the others include the Moses Coady/Paulo Friere Education Center for our members and the community and the Rochdale Center office space for both our members and staff.

Because students created the co-ops to meet their own needs, the ICC offers eight month Fall/Winter, 4 month Fall or Winter, and 2 or 4 month Spring/Summer contracts. Our houses range in size from about 12 to 85 members. The average house holds about 30 people.

North Campus attracts a large graduate student population and a sizable international student population as well. Central Campus is a large, diverse crowd that is mostly undergrads. Because co-ops are open to all students, each house is made up of members coming from a wide variety of backgrounds. What brings us together is our dedication to creating the best living atmosphere possible.

Most houses are quite social. There are often ICC-wide parties at one house or another. Houses have gotten together to play IM soccer, go apple picking, bowling, ice skating—the list goes on and on.

The ICC houses are more than just places to sleep and eat.  Though our mission commits us to affordable housing, for many of our members it is the community that makes all the difference.  The cooperative practices that govern our houses such as shared work, democratic decision making, and pooling our financial resources to improve our standard of living, remains just as important for today’s members as it was for the first co-opers in our houses. 

Our members come from different cultural and social backgrounds, political beliefs, religions, states, and countries and all have interests and values in different areas both at school and while at play.  Thanks to all our unique individualities, each of our houses takes on a different personality each year.  Some houses are smaller and more quiet and some bigger and more loud.  Some eat more meat and some eat none at all.  Some houses are pet friendly and others prefer to live without.  You get the idea---every house is as different and unique as each of its members! All members have an equal voice in their house decisions and ICC policy making.  We all truly can make a difference.

The strong community within and among our co-op houses helps many of us feel as though we have a home away from home, and it is undoubtedly the truth.  It is a place to have fun, to learn new skills, build life-long relationships, and have new experiences.  Becoming a member of the ICC offers you the opportunity to learn about real-time democracy and learn how to be a valued member of a community.

One member once said, “The best thing about the co-ops is that you get back the energy and love that you put in to it; into the house itself, the people and the whole thing.  As you learn every minute you stay involved, you’ll never regret any second!”

For more specific information on co-op living, including descriptions and locations of our houses, co-op costs, house amenities, and available spaces, please see the menu to your left.