LOLWUT
You are probably right. Will be interesting to see the number of OOS students enrolled this year.
Also, a lot of sophomores, juniors and seniors are in the same boat as the future unlucky freshmen with no housing. But I am sure it’s much harder for a kid who just got out of HS.
p.s. I saw on the FB parent page, some rushed to sign the lease without ever seeing the place, at least they know the area and can use google map. The rushing is for fear of apartments shortage due to the expected increase in freshmen looking for off campus housing. It’s awful all around.
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Just to clarify, if you trace back thru the posts, @homerdog ‘s post was related to my concern about colleges, in general, reducing density. Not specific to CA. My own kids aren’t considering CA schools at all. But the announcements from the UC schools do make me concerned about any residential colleges, many of whom have mentioned reducing density in the dorms. This goes beyond the UCs.
Most of the CSUs have mostly commuter students to begin with (CPSLO and a few others are exceptions). The CSUs are built around the model of serving local students, due to local area admission preferences and financial aid policies for low income students that make them cheaper than UCs for commuter students, but more expensive for residential students. The UCs are more residential-based.
Off campus housing around many UCs and CSUs may be less expensive than campus dorms. However, if students want to de-densify in the off-campus housing (e.g. have only two people in a place that four people lived in during previous years), that can increase the price. Non-local frosh would be significantly impacted by lack of dorm space, since they tend to be unfamiliar with the area and less able to look for off-campus housing.
So you are basing your pov on an anecdote of one (campus, the most land-locked and space-constrained of them all)?
(Hint: San Diego guarantees on-campus housing for two years.)
But yeah, thousands of incoming UC Frosh may have to find off campus housing this fall. Years ago, UCLA started on a decades-long dorm-upgrade plan, by closing one at a time and refurbishing them. Since that time, nearly all Frosh were put into triples, in rooms designed as a double. If UCLA decides to de-triple all of its Frosh dorms, yikes!
As an aside, UC housing bureaucracy has nothing on the DMV. You miss the deadline by even one minute, and sorry, no room for you. (Just another reason why I’m not a fan of paying OOS rates.)
@momzilla2D I am aware of the general concern, and yes it does go beyond UCs. And I can only share what I know. People can extrapolate.
CSU Maritime Academy is a small (about 900 students) specialized (around ships and shipping) college.
Maybe, but UCLA, UCSB and UCI have all started pulling from their wait list.
They are only letting 350 come back.
Yes. I work in the medical field. My department has currently cancelled all non urgent outpatient appointments. Those people are not going to magically get better. They are all now on a constantly growing waiting list. Once lock down/ social distancing measures are relieved we are still going to see most of those people. My colleagues are half joking that we will all have to work double shifts for months to catch up.
Similarly for colleges. If you say that a lecture hall can only be 50% full at a time you will take double the time to educate the same number of people. That’s assuming that most students will refuse to study online which is a big presumption.
Back in the late 80s, my husband was a freshman at UCLA and could not get on campus housing. He had to find an off campus apartment. So, I suppose this is not an entirely new thing for UC schools.
As was mentioned, the CSUs are located up and down the state to serve the local communities and several are in non dense areas - Chico, Humboldt, Fresno, Stanislaus, Bakersfield etc. San Diego, Long Beach and San Luis Obispo already have housing issues so this will most likely add to that. For what it is worth, Cal Maritime is a CSU.
For the UCs, Berkeley has a long history of a housing shortage both on and off campus. There is more availability for off campus housing at campuses like Davis, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Santa Cruz and Merced and it is often cheaper than on campus housing.
Couldn’t this “fewer students in a dorm room” policy backfire? If off campus housing becomes scarce and expensive, then kids are likely to double up in off campus apartments to save $, which defeats the purpose.
Reminds me of Villanova banning alcohol from campus in the 80’s - every weekend the bars and parties at other schools in Philly would be filled with Villanova students drinking, then driving home at 2AM.
We should all agree that there are a range of housing options as various schools (even in CA). Also, assuming most schools will continue to offer online classes, arranging for off campus housing should not be a requirement of attendance for the next year (or so).
@Rivet2000 You bought up a good point, may be the on and off campus housing shortages wont be as bad if we have on-line instructions. Some will do online from home, but some will want to live near campus regardless. We will have to see.
This is exactly what I can see happening – mini-dorms off campus.
Maybe the colleges then feel it will not be their liability if off-campus students get sick.
DS attended UCSB. Graduated 2017.
House was guaranteed freshman year AND if you applied on time and submitted the requisite funds, you were guaranteed a second year. He has a double the first year and a single the second.
And housing in Isla Vista is VERY expensive. And those are crammed with bodies to a level often exceeding dorm/student housing levels. When we were visiting we saw signs for studios starting at $800. Thought…hey that’s a great deal. Only to find out in the small print that was for a BED in a studio and they could be sharing with several other occupants.
UCSB would actually guarantee a third year - again if you did all that was required in the timeframe given.
DD - grad 2014 from CalPoly SLO. Again, guaranteed first and second year assuming student did what was required for the application. Off campus housing was less expensive than on campus and more available than at UCSB.
Thinks may have changed.
I do think there will be a push for students to stay closer to home and attend a State flagship. There is comfort in knowing you could pick up your sick student by hopping in the car. There is comfort in knowing you could haul away all their stuff in one trip if needed.
It will come down to a decision - do the parents and students value the potential experience of a dream school half way across the country enough to accept the risks. Or do they wish to mitigate risk and worry and keep everyone closer to home base.
Maybe. People who live near mini-dorms who get sick might not feel the same way, though.
https://www.witf.org/2020/04/28/penn-state-will-announce-plans-for-fall-semester-by-june-15/
So penn State will announce fall in class / online June 15