I just wish instead of building CSUMB (having a hard time attracting kids), they could have built UC Monterey. I know it’s too close to UCSC, but the land is former military and they could have done anything they wanted. Kids seem to want to be close to the ocean. Oh well.
The goal for UC Merced was to have a UC attractive to students living in the inland empire.
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Why isn’t CSU MB attracting more students?
One of C26’s classmates is considering it because of the major they want to do. Sounds like people don’t like the buildings much? (The classmate mentioned that in context of they don’t think “it’s as bad as people make out”). It’s a smaller school as well which may work better for some people than others, and my understanding is that range of majors offered is not as wide as most other CSUs. Location sounds fabulous though.
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I agree. Its location (prime real estate/ocean, near population center) could make it a highly désirable csu. They could have a more residential feel, a few niche (marine related?) sports and offer severely “redundant but impacted at UCSC” majors as an outlet for those who couldn’t get into UCSC.
One to watch on my opinion.
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UCs are exclusive—to even apply there are minimum GPA requirements. I assume Monterey wanted a university that primarily serves their local community, just as SJSU or Cal Poly SLO have prioritization for students in their area. A UC would have to adhere to standards that may have limited access to those local students.
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How close is too close? The greater LA area has 3 UCs after all. Curious if this is just something you’re thinking or if this has actually been discussed somewhere? If so one hopes the land has enough space for plenty dorms in that area…
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I think that regardless of location, it’s a big task to establish a new UC campus.
I found it very interesting to read the report from November 2024, “UC Merced at 20” (I’ve linked the pdf) which talks about the goals for Merced and how challenging it has been to meet them.
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Only read the exec summary, but it is interesting.
(As an aside, they define first gen as a student with at least one parent without a bachelors degree. I always thought first gen meant neither parent had a degree?)
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I agree that’s odd. Looks like UC as a whole defines it as a student where neither parent earned a degree. First-generation college students | University of California
And there are even more competing definitions! No clarity for first-generation college students in CA - CalMatters
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I think if you think in terms of population, Monterey doesn’t have the numbers of southern CA.
All I will say is Irvine is a newer campus and yet due to its location, it’s now a very desirable campus. Merced and Riverside aren’t. I know why they built Merced, but if they hoped to attract kids out of that area, they aren’t.
I think a UC with a Monterey location could have been just as successful as Irvine. CSUs tend to be commuter schools but Monterey doesn’t have a population to support that school. I don’t know. It’s just not popular at all. Kids are finding CC+ transfer to be a better deal than attending this particular CSU.
The minimum weighted-capped GPA to apply to UC is 3.0 (versus 2.5 for CSU).
However, all of the UC campuses are competitive beyond that (though Merced only a little), while the majority of CSUs are non-competitive beyond the minimum (i.e. not impacted) for most majors (however, pre-nursing is always competitive beyond the minimum). SJSU and CPSLO are two of the CSU campuses that are competitive beyond the minimum (i.e. impacted) for all majors, and CPSLO is probably more difficult to get into than some UCs, even for local area applicants.
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It’s about 3 times as old as Merced, though, so it has had a lot more time to become established and grow along with the general increase in UC enrollment over that time. This is from the pdf I linked above:
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Having visited down there a lot, the City of Marina has significantly benefited from the redevelopment of the former Fort Ord military base.
Marina has integrated Fort Ord land into its city limits and is developing new housing and commercial areas, including a large strip mall and a planned 13-mile recreation trail.
The number changes, but. believe the City of Marina will ultimately approve 7,000 new housing units. An extremely up and coming area.
I actually found a great coffee roaster down there and I have been buying my coffee beans from down there.
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But Irvine has become much more selective than Santa Cruz (founded at the same time) and Riverside (older). Many would rank it above Davis too.
My takeaway from the write up on Merced at 20 is that it takes a huge amount of effort to establish a new residential college from scratch and make it attractive to go there. And while it is great from the point of view of social policy that Merced is catering for so many poor first gen/URM students, that isn’t likely to help it attract wealthier coastal students, despite the efforts of some rankings publications to boost colleges that do cater to a large number of Pell Grant students. The only students who tend to go there from our Bay Area HS are first gen/URMs. The reason for establishing UC Merced is precisely what now holds it back (and I think there would be quite a few complaints if the magnitude of their $85M annual subsidy was more widely known).
Returning to CSUMB, the biggest problem for UCSC is the high cost and scarcity of housing. And the NIMBYs/coastal regulations make it very difficult to build more (despite UCSC having an enormous campus with vast amounts of open space). Why would this be any different for a newly established UC a few miles further south? This is a comparison of housing costs put out by UC Merced to encourage people to apply there for PhDs, showing Santa Cruz is even more expensive than Berkeley:
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Yes, most of those homes are being bought by Silicon Valley residents, not locals. But at least it isn’t a second home community so kids will be raised there. So the area will become more lively as time passes.
It’s different because the land on which CSUMB was built is former military. The land is the size the city of SF. It has been chopped up and distributed to various adjacent towns and the university git a good chunk. Developing that area is being looked at very favorably because the alternative was land dotted by old military barracks (an eyesore).
UCSC is located in the protected forest I believe.
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The City of Irvine is approaching 250,000 residents. At 3 million pop, Orange County is the 6th most populous county in the nation.
Contrast that with Monterey city (30k) and Monterey County (400k).
The OC has a history of pursuing growth. NorCal is the opposite. (you can build in Monterey County, but its difficult to get a water hookup.)
But a campus in desirable location might just attract enough kids to take some pressure off the existing campuses. We can’t be pushing UCs to increase enrollment if it means decreasing quality (harder to get into classes, no housing). I would rather see another successful campus that attracts more than just local kids.
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I have long wondered why CSUMB is not more popular. It was my oldest’s second choice school. A friend’s daughter just graduated from there. Small classes, great professors, 4 years of housing, location next to the beach and near Santa Cruz, what’s not to like?! One downside I guess is that it is hard to get to, quite a drive from most places and not very close to an airport. But that is the case for SLO as well (maybe even more so).
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