<p>You will have to provide your own lodging. Kayak is a decent source to compare prices of hotels/motels. Hotwire can be useful as well or one of the bidding websites like Priceline if you don’t mind the opaqueness. University Inn (hotel owned by UCSC) might have a special deal for summer orientation students, but I do not know this for a fact. The prices can be hefty all over the city in summer due to tourism. Book your reservation early for the best prices.</p>
<p>Orientation allows you to register for your classes. That is, in my opinion, the only worthwhile benefit that you cannot achieve on your own. You do also get the chance to speak with advisors and such, but I was able to do this months before my orientation and had things already planned out. If you do not go to orientation, you will be registering for your classes after all of the scheduled orientations have ceased.</p>
<p>I highly recommend speaking to an advisor regardless of whether you attend orientation or not. I was able to secure permission codes to add classes that appeared full. This is not always going to be the case, but you will not receive these if you don’t talk to an advisor.</p>
<p>The expense for the parent (or anyone else beyond the student) to attend is a waste in my honest opinion. Some do feel they are able to get good information from it, but all of the information provided is available online or can be asked with a simple phone call or a visit to the office for which the question is for. During the student’s orientation is actually a very good chance for a parent (or other) to explore the campus.</p>