Keele has teamed up with the University Partnerships Programme to fund and run 2,300 affordable rooms in new purpose-built buildings.
It is understood Vinci is in final talks with Keele about taking the scheme forward for a start later this summer.
New accommodation will built in three campus areas at Barnes, Horwood and Lindsay Halls and will be delivered in phases of both town houses and larger student blocks to keep disruption to a minimum.
Typical new student block cluster at Barnes Hall
It comes as the university is planning to increase its student numbers from 10,000 to 13,000 by 2020.
Expanding within each of the existing residential halls, the development will provide four new social spaces that current Keele students themselves helped to design.
UPP already works with more than a dozen universities across the UK to maintain and run student accommodation, including Kent, Reading, Nottingham, York, Plymouth, Lancaster and Bath.
Architects Church Lukas and landscape architects Urban Wilderness designed the project.
The client team also includes Curtins as structural and civil engineer, services consultant MKP Group and Stace as quantity surveyor.
