When my kid was touring the UC schools she was accepted to last year all she and I talked about was social fit, academics etc.
When my kid chose UCSC we knew housing was going to be very challenging but was repeatedly told that “everyone gets housing” and “it works itself out”.
That may be true, but in practice this is what actually happens. Don’t get me wrong, UCs are great value and great schools but housing should not be under-estimated.
a) Housing is typically guaranteed for Freshman (which is great) but after that you are on your own.
b) Most housing is not openly advertised, but more word of mouth (i.e. soso is graduating and her room opened up). But many don’t have the social network so don’t know and/or miss out.
c) Your kid can spend a large chunk of time i.e. starting March stressing out and looking for housing when they should be studying
d) There are lots of scammers. Not just land lords, but even other students who prey on the anxiousness of the students.
e) Many kids can’t get housing at UCSC, UCSD, UCSB so drop out. Other kids just live out of their cars (i.e. car camping).
I’ve got my fingers crossed my kid finds housing but a $1500 a month budget for a room in Santa Cruz is going to be tough. As a backup plan most UC’s allow a Leave of Absence so you can do that for a quarter and hope housing is found in.
I admittedly don’t know much about UCSC, but I am in several UCB Facebook groups and there are A LOT of postings about housing. Have you tried social media groups? It is mostly parents there posting on behalf of their students (who don’t use FB). Might be one way to tap into the market?
This is great advice! My D24 planned to apply to UCSC since she was about 14 (since we LOVE Santa Cruz) but the it was the housing situation deterred her. Good luck to your family!
Berkeley is quite different because surrounding it is lotta residential areas. But Santa Cruz is completely different. It’s a resort area with not much surrounding housing.
And to answer your question, she’s been trying all sorts of Facebook and discussion forums. But there are more people asking for housing than those renting out!
I’mc curious how did you know it would be so bad. We knew it was competitive but everyone reassured us it all works out. Which is true, if you stay it of course worked out but many people leave or take LOA.
I agree that it’s a pain that you wait until April for the lottery and then are left scrambling. But the situation at UCSC seemed better this year if you stayed in your college and found 5 others from your college to share with so you could use the best lottery time from all those 6 people. In previous years the priority groups took most of the housing so you had to find someone in that group to share with.
If you didn’t find a group or wanted to move to another college then it’s much tougher. But we were told that at most colleges there are always a few spaces in the freshman triples if you are prepared to live there again. Of course that means taking the even bigger risk of waiting until September.
Living off campus it seems unlikely that $1500 per month will be enough. I’d expect to pay more like $1800 per month in Santa Cruz. Or take a car and commute from outlying areas. Did they solve the parking issue that sophomores weren’t allowed parking permits in previous years?
Yup, realize that, but thought perhaps the manner of advertising housing between students (especially graduating students and students doing a year abroad and looking for subletters) might be similar, particularly because you mentioned:
Social media can sometimes mitigate lack of in person social network in terms of finding opportunities.
It was word of mouth for our kids. They knew not to even bother to apply because of the housing mess that has gone on at the school for years.
They said that the residents don’t want to “change the community” and go out, in force to deny any new dorm buildings considered by the school to develop in the area.
They don’t rent out rooms to students because they don’t want extra cars or college-related issues in their neighborhoods. (Even though they have extra rooms!)
The daughter of my hairdresser, received a full scholarship to Santa Cruz and when I asked my hairdresser, what will she do about housing in her 2nd year? That’s when she called her daughter, and the daughter spoke to current students attending from her high school. They all told her that the housing situation was ridiculous, stressful and not worth the effort. Most of the students she spoke to were planning on transferring out.
They can’t afford the gas, rent, and the time it takes to commute to the school.
Such “change” in the community would be a reduction in rental income for landlords and property values for property owners. When these groups are largely the same people, it is not surprising that the NIMBY opposition to more student housing is strong.
I have a student at Berkeley and he signed his off campus apartment lease in March 2023 for a lease starting that July. In our experience students have to give 90 days notice to landlords if they will be vacating their lease.
This discussion about UCSC housing is eye opening and worrisome, since it would probably be a top choice for D26.
When we toured UCSC in April a disgruntled student posted a sign in his/her dorm window warning parents and prospective students of the dire housing situation
Hah. She did exactly that. The best lottery time of her six group was 10:30am on the very FIRST day and they got nothing. They immeadiately cancelled pass 2 and pass 3 lotteries.
Do you really think $1500 a month for a room in a shared home is too much. That’s a shame. Of her group of six friends most are transferring or hoping to get of the dorm short list.
If it’s her top choice then really make sure she committs to hustling for housing and she has a good head on her shoulders. Because a parent you can’t really do much at your end. The kids tour an apartment, and get handed an application form and you just have to take the risk. I suggested driving down to see an apartment the kid liked but it was taken by the time I even started to drive (2 days later)!
Thanks. I think it’s important for parents to understand these issues before signing up. It’s not as though housing is an insurmountable problem. But it takes a very special kind of student that is not every kid. In particular the kid has to be either:
a) Extremely out-going and resourceful. I mean some kids are handing out housing CVs to people on campus!
b) Have a low standard in terms of housing quality/safety. I just told me daughter no way are you getting unsafe housing.
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.
So your S is at UCSC? I think you are right it did depend on colleges my kid was in Stevenson and she did get a group of six together and there first slot was 10:30am on the first day and they still didn’t get anything.
The things you learn for the 2nd kid!
It seems $1500 plus $100 for utilities is about the going rate for