Keep the pressure on….

It is common nowadays, students at California’s public colleges and universities sleeping in their cars or couch surf in their friends’ apartments because they can’t afford permanent housing. The state is trying to fund projects to create affordable housing

·         Homelessness is prevalent across California’s three higher education segments, with 1 in 20 students at UC, 1 in 10 students at CSU, and 1 in 5 students at California Community Colleges (CCC) reporting experiencing homelessness at some point during the academic year. Even more students experience some form of housing insecurity. For example, 16 percent of UC students in 2020 reported sleeping in non-traditional housing arrangements (such as a hotel, transitional housing, or outdoor location) because they lacked permanent housing.

·         Affordable, on-campus housing is a benefit to students. A report to the CSU Board of Trustees in July 2020 noted that research across college campuses nationally and within the CSU suggest that students living on campus have higher grade point averages and lower academic probation rates, higher retention and graduation rates, and shorter time to graduation than their off-campus peers.

·         Insufficient student housing can hinder campuses’ ability to increase enrolment and serve more Californians. Both UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz, for example, have agreements with local governments that limit increased enrolment unless housing is added to accommodate that growth. CSU Humboldt has launched a plan to become a polytechnic university and more than double its student body in the next decade, but campus officials note that on-campus housing must be built before dramatically increasing enrolment. The local housing market cannot accommodate thousands of new students.

Refer to  CALIFORNIA STUDENT HOUSING: SOLUTIONS FOR IMPROVING CAPACITY AND AFFORDABILITY. The lack of affordable campus housing can harm our young people’s educational opportunities and, ultimately, the state’s economic future.