On the long list of graduate students’ grievances, the lack of satisfactory housing options remains defiantly at the top.

Although developers and university administrators have taken steps in recent years to negotiate housing meant specifically to address this concern, graduate student leaders say the newer options are still out of reach for many of their constituents.

“Around this university, graduate students live in cramped quarters, in basement apartments and illegal rentals,” said Graduate Student Government President Anna Bedford. “There is little affordable housing; on-campus housing is the exclusive domain of undergraduates, and grads are at the mercy of predatory landlords — I have heard the horror stories.”

Mazza Grandmarc, a new high-rise development about two miles north of the campus on Route 1, was supposed to help solve these problems.

While Mazza offers apartments to both graduate and undergraduate students, the company aims to help graduate students with their housing predicament, said a Mazza spokeswoman.

“Mazza’s on-site team understands the needs of students vary and they are prepared to provide the level of customer service to ensure that all of our residents are happy in their home,” Mazza spokeswoman Julie Ratcliff wrote in an e-mail. “Graduate students receive a 10 percent discount on monthly rent and a discount on garage parking. In addition, their security deposit and application fee are waived.”

Its proximity to the university is convenient, graduate students said, but its price is often out of reach.

Bedford, who has struggled to find housing near the campus in the past, said more on-campus options should be made available.

Many graduate students said they are frustrated with the lack of on-campus housing specifically reserved for them to use.

Graduate Hills and Graduate Gardens, two university-owned properties, house about 600, including graduate students and their families, according to Resident Life Assistant Director Dennis Passarella George.

But Passarella George added negotiating price and location can be an issue, as less expensive housing options tend to be far from the campus.

“What I did is I went online to find an apartment in the area,” said Doug Szczublewski, an areospace engineering graduate student. “I looked at the options in Google, but almost every place I went to look for had bad reviews, because of either bad landlords, bed bugs or both.”

For those like Bryan Robbins, a computer science gradaute student, finding housing meant finding a place to live for him and his family.

“I’m married, so housing needs are different,” Robbins said. “We need affordable housing with parking. I haven’t really seen any effort from the administration for help on housing.”

In the past, administrators have acknowledged that affordable housing is a serious issue that can negatively impact recruitment of quality students and the reputation of the university’s graduate program.

Szczublewski is one of the lucky few. He lives in the Mazza complex which, although expensive, he said is worth it.

“If not for Mazza, the graduate student housing situation would be horrendous,” he said.

But Bedford said she’s not satisfied.

“Ideally, we would like for the university to purchase property that they are not going to rent off at the market rate,” she said. “We want somewhere that we don’t have to pay half of our income to live, somewhere safe and close to campus, where we can live with family and pets.”

Bedford added she feels the administration has simply not made the matter a priority, and with the opening of Mazza, graduate students cannot even afford to live around the campus anymore, she said.

“We just need rooms and bookcases,” Bedford said. “And probably Internet connection.”

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