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June 1, 1998
TO THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY:
As we all prepare to bring the academic year to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with an update regarding the campus's student housing planning effort for the upcoming fall. I am very proud to note that UC Santa Cruz received a record number of applications. We are expecting an estimated total student enrollment of 10,930 for fall 1998, representing a 12 percent increase in new students over last fall. However, this figure is subject to change due to a variety of reasons.
Our goal continues to be to provide on-campus housing for many of our undergraduate students. The campus is working hard to accommodate this new student planned growth on campus. We are adding approximately 300 new "bedspaces" to our on-campus housing total this year. This will be accomplished by turning some single rooms into doubles and double rooms into triples, and also through a variety of creative rearranging of lounges and community space in residence areas in the colleges. On-campus housing is expected to be filled beyond capacity in the fall and this means that some students will need to secure housing off campus. But a shortage of available rentals in Santa Cruz and an increase in our enrollments have made the search for housing tougher than ever. The real housing "crunch" will occur this fall quarter. Quite frankly we need the City's and the campus's cooperation to help ameliorate this pressure. I know that the students in our college communities will do their best to make the new students welcome and we are grateful for any assistance you can lend.
California is growing, and due in large part to the booming economy in our neighboring Silicon Valley, Santa Cruz County and the City are also growing. In our recent Annual City/UCSC Public Hearing it was pointed out that UCSC's growth over an eight-year period (1990 -98) was 8.5 percent, compared to a 9.8 percent growth rate for the City for this same period. Clearly, our growth has been responsible and controlled.
What is the campus doing to accommodate students off campus? We realize that we cannot accommodate all students on campus at this point in time, and that some students will want to look off-campus for their housing needs. Students must contend with a highly competitive rental market. Our Community Rentals Office is very busy these days helping students prepare for a successful housing search. Their office is located at Social Sciences II, Room 56 (College Ten) and their number is 459-4435 or email comrent@housing, for those of you who have a room or unit to rent. Of course all ideas for alternative housing options are welcome; please send them to housing@cats.
To help offset a shortage of rental housing in the surrounding community, UCSC has a variety of innovative programs to assist students with their housing needs:
* The Slug Partnership Program has 13 local motels offering 165 rooms for students. We plan to contact more hotels, motels, and conference centers to see if we can obtain additional space.
* The Host Home Program matches faculty and staff with students who need temporary housing for the fall quarter. Host homes will be most in demand from mid-September to mid-October.
* The Student Hostel will again provide temporary housing at the West Field House at the beginning of the quarter.
* In early July we will place an insert in the Sentinel promoting listings with our Community Rentals Office.
* The Village House Hunters Hostel will offer short-term housing for students August 1 through September 23.
* Discussions are underway with CSU Monterey Bay to contract one residence hall with 82 bedspaces, and student interest is currently being solicited.
Some of our future housing building plans include:
* The campus will begin construction this summer on the College Nine Apartments, which will be located north of the Colleges Nine and Ten Academic Buildings. The apartments will house 280 undergraduate students when completed in fall 1999.
* The campus, with much cooperation from the City, will be establishing the UCSC "University Town Center" at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Cathcart St. The building will house University Extension and approximately 100 UCSC and Extension students. The five-story building is expected to be completed by fall 1999.
* Constructing apartments at Cowell, Porter, and Stevenson (approximately 240 bed spaces).
* Constructing residence Halls at Colleges 9 & 10 (an estimated 800 bed spaces).
* Inclusion Area Housing (in discussion stage).
The 1998-99 academic year will be particularly significant in terms of the immediate and long-term health of the campus and its growth. I do believe that the answers to the challenges and opportunities posed by UC Santa Cruz's projected enrollment growth can and should be developed through cooperative dialogue. The campus is growing because of our excellent reputation, and we expect to grow in the near future as we continue to add new academic programs. The Jack Baskin School of Engineering has already attracted many students who previously could not find the engineering programs they wanted at UCSC.
UC Santa Cruz is poised for enrollment growth in an era when other campuses are already at capacity. It is important that we make the most of this unusual opportunity. To do so, we must be well-informed, thoughtful, creative, and adaptive in order to articulate campus values; assess existing campus strengths; anticipate future challenges; and identify strategies that will provide a blueprint for UCSC's priorities during the first decade of the new millennium.
In summary, we have much to be proud of. The students who are coming to the Santa Cruz campus have worked very hard to earn the right to be here--and we all can participate in the effort to ensure that all our newly admitted students will be housed in the fall.
Sincerely,
Francisco J. Hernandez
Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs