Thousands of UC San Diego students need a place to live, as nearly 3,200 people are on waiting lists as the campus grapples with more growth.

Cody Huynh showed up at a condo in La Jolla recently hoping to find a place to rent after UC San Diego hit him with unexpected news — it had run out of undergraduate housing for the fall quarter.

Things were worse than he imagined. “Three other families were there looking to rent the same place,” said Huynh, a sophomore from Anaheim. “I’m feeling anxious. I don’t know where I’m going to live.”

Thousands of UCSD students are facing the same uncertainty.

For years, the school has increased enrollment faster than it has added housing. A record number of students — possibly as many as 41,000 — are expected when classes begin on September 23. And this fall’s housing supply is complicated by Covid-19 — UCSD is sticking with its pandemic-related decision to reduce density in housing, eliminating 2,074 beds.

The result is a housing shortage that is sparking anger, confusion and fear among students, many who believed they were guaranteed housing and say they weren’t warned clearly that a problem was brewing. Some also are astonished to learn that they now need to look for living quarters off campus, tossing them into one of the priciest and most competitive rental markets in Southern California.

The university, which has under-estimated its fall enrollment several times in recent years, says that 3,153 students are on waiting lists for campus housing. Nearly 1,900 are graduate students, at least 800 of whom are likely to get a bed. The other 1,267 — nearly all of them sophomores — are on a separate list, and their outlook isn’t promising.

UCSD says it would like to accommodate everyone; living on campus gives younger students time to adjust to being away from home. And university officials say they realize that this year’s sophomores had to deal with the trauma of the pandemic, which denied many students the chance to enjoy the freshman dorm experience.

But all of the university’s 17,536 beds have been claimed. And only those near the top of a computer-generated waitlist for sophomores and other second-years will likely get picked if there are cancellations.

Living on campus isn’t always cheaper than staying elsewhere. It’s common for students to cram together in private, off-campus housing, reducing the amount of rent they pay individually.

But campus prices tend to be more predictable, and UCSD sells the experience hard, saying online: “Roll out of bed. Walk to class. Lunch with friends. Quick nap. Afternoon lecture. Sunset surfing at the beach. Study session with suitemates. Movie night in the lounge.”

Plans vary. But an undergraduate can expect to pay from $13,466 to $17,215 for room and board in a single room for the coming academic year. That works out to about $1,494 to $1,911 a month.

Off-campus, the market is more volatile, especially in a place like La Jolla, where students have to compete with the region’s huge life science workforce for housing.

San Diego County is experiencing a big shortage of affordable rentals. The average rent in San Diego County hit $2,009 a month in the second quarter of 2021. It’s gone up 8.4% in a year.

Consumer demand is largely responsible for the housing problems that exist at many of the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses. The system added almost 40,000 freshmen and transfer students in the past five years, creating the need for more housing for current and future students.

La Jolla has been a focal point of the expansion. Since 2015, UCSD has increased its undergraduate enrollment by 5,252 — more than any other UC school.

Many students and their parents also are unhappy that UCSD decided during the pandemic to stop allowing for “triples,” or rooms that hold three students. The decision wiped out nearly 2,100 beds.

UC Irvine on the other hand, which will house upwards of 15,000 students this fall, has triples and plans to keep them.

Source: SDuniontribune by Phillip Molnar