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Indybay Feature
Rent Hikes and Unrest at UCSC's Family Student Housing
Tenants at UCSC's Family Student Housing, already paying outrageous rents to live there, face another huge rent increase in a year of financial crisis.
On Wednesday, March 16, UCSC administrators and Vice Chancellors held a meeting to discuss rent hikes at UCSC's Family Student Housing. A hundred tenants, from a community of 200 rental units, showed up to demand affordable rents.
The officials assured everyone that the rent, which is far more expensive than comparable units at other UC's, and which has gone up 56% in the last nine years, needs to go up another 7.5%. They explained that due to the Long Range Development Plan, residents need to pay much of their rent into future housing costs, some of which would go into doubling the units at family student housing. While there will be future need for that housing, it seems cruel to fundraise off the backs of single parents, undergraduates with kids often living well below the poverty line, and students who are the most vulnerable to dropping out of school under economic duress. This proposed current budget leaves many families, living off grad student wages, with $250 a month to live on. All of this is taking place with aging housing stock that they define as "substandard" and which has ongoing issues with mold, asbestos, and rodents.
In a year when many spouses have been laid off, when jobs in town and at the university are growing scarcer every day, the families who live here are calling foul play. Ninety-eight percent of the households at FSH have signed a petition demanding affordable family student housing at UCSC.
At this meeting, one undergraduate student, baby in tow, spoke about living on welfare, loans, and scholarships, and the likelihood of her having to drop out of school if rents go up. Another pregnant student discussed how living in a community where most her neighbors were parents, allowed her to exchange babysitting and survive as a student. She will have to move if rents go up. Another resident, whose wife just gave birth, discussed getting his PHD and being the first generation in his family to go to college, and how his dreams of moving back to his community and teaching at community college were threatened by his accruing debt.
The Associate Vice Chancellor Jean-Marie Scott responded by repeating over and over that the tenants had to pay our "fair share." She took in no consideration of our current economic crisis, and the realities students face.
On Monday, March 30th, the officials plan on reviewing their budget, and showing the Family Student Housing how their budget's numbers equal, in effect, eviction notices for many, many families here. The students plan on presenting a very different budget, one that includes elements of affordability, accessibility, and housing justice. This meeting will take place from 5:45-7:30pm at the Affiliates Building at Family Student Housing. We invite the Santa Cruz community to come and show their support for the students who struggle to live here.
The officials assured everyone that the rent, which is far more expensive than comparable units at other UC's, and which has gone up 56% in the last nine years, needs to go up another 7.5%. They explained that due to the Long Range Development Plan, residents need to pay much of their rent into future housing costs, some of which would go into doubling the units at family student housing. While there will be future need for that housing, it seems cruel to fundraise off the backs of single parents, undergraduates with kids often living well below the poverty line, and students who are the most vulnerable to dropping out of school under economic duress. This proposed current budget leaves many families, living off grad student wages, with $250 a month to live on. All of this is taking place with aging housing stock that they define as "substandard" and which has ongoing issues with mold, asbestos, and rodents.
In a year when many spouses have been laid off, when jobs in town and at the university are growing scarcer every day, the families who live here are calling foul play. Ninety-eight percent of the households at FSH have signed a petition demanding affordable family student housing at UCSC.
At this meeting, one undergraduate student, baby in tow, spoke about living on welfare, loans, and scholarships, and the likelihood of her having to drop out of school if rents go up. Another pregnant student discussed how living in a community where most her neighbors were parents, allowed her to exchange babysitting and survive as a student. She will have to move if rents go up. Another resident, whose wife just gave birth, discussed getting his PHD and being the first generation in his family to go to college, and how his dreams of moving back to his community and teaching at community college were threatened by his accruing debt.
The Associate Vice Chancellor Jean-Marie Scott responded by repeating over and over that the tenants had to pay our "fair share." She took in no consideration of our current economic crisis, and the realities students face.
On Monday, March 30th, the officials plan on reviewing their budget, and showing the Family Student Housing how their budget's numbers equal, in effect, eviction notices for many, many families here. The students plan on presenting a very different budget, one that includes elements of affordability, accessibility, and housing justice. This meeting will take place from 5:45-7:30pm at the Affiliates Building at Family Student Housing. We invite the Santa Cruz community to come and show their support for the students who struggle to live here.
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Rent in Santa Cruz is stupidly high.
This would be a good time to launch a city wide rent strike at the UC and all across the city.
This would be a good time to launch a city wide rent strike at the UC and all across the city.
yeah - I once did a study on the internet, looking up dorm-room costs at UC vs nearby states such as Arizona, Oregon, Washington.
You would think that the state wouldn't have additional costs due to the outside housing market, which should result in higher priced California housing. But they do. I think double dorm rooms are going for about $900+ at UCs, I don't remember how much food makes up. Arizona would be more like $600. A graduate student stipend for working 20 hours a week teaching composition or language classes was about $1300 3 years ago. Maybe it's $1400 now?
What I don't quite understand is why rents haven't gone down. This year's crop of high school students cannot afford to move out as they're not getting jobs. The 10% officially unemployed people have to be depleting their savings very quickly, and so the easiest way to avoid being homeless is to double up with other families... as $1400 1-bedroom apartments will really empty your bank account. But... rent has dropped $50??
You would think that the state wouldn't have additional costs due to the outside housing market, which should result in higher priced California housing. But they do. I think double dorm rooms are going for about $900+ at UCs, I don't remember how much food makes up. Arizona would be more like $600. A graduate student stipend for working 20 hours a week teaching composition or language classes was about $1300 3 years ago. Maybe it's $1400 now?
What I don't quite understand is why rents haven't gone down. This year's crop of high school students cannot afford to move out as they're not getting jobs. The 10% officially unemployed people have to be depleting their savings very quickly, and so the easiest way to avoid being homeless is to double up with other families... as $1400 1-bedroom apartments will really empty your bank account. But... rent has dropped $50??
yeah - here are a few charts. Food plans seem to be included, so you'd have to be able to calculated what you'd spend on food otherwise.
Also, dorm rooms are for 10 month periods. You typically need to move out promptly at the end of classes.
In a triple, UC Berkeley charges over $1000/month
http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/rates.html
at UCSC- family housing is $1200- no food
http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/rates08-09.html#family
Double rooms are $1300 with meals 5 days/week or $1100 triple. Rooms off campus are cheaper.
In Seattle, a double with average meal plan is $6900-7250 for three quarters, and $6300 for a triple.
http://hfs.washington.edu/uploadedFiles/Student_Housing/Residence_Halls/Application_Information/Autumn_2008/ResHallRateSheet08-09_final.pdf
In Tucson, they price food separately. Academic year is $4700-$5300
Eugene- a double with regular meal plan is $8200.
http://www.life.arizona.edu/undergraduate/forms/2008_2009_forms/08_09_rates_paymentplan.pdf
thus: California students are paying more. Is this cash working its way to the janitors and cooks?
Also, dorm rooms are for 10 month periods. You typically need to move out promptly at the end of classes.
In a triple, UC Berkeley charges over $1000/month
http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/rates.html
at UCSC- family housing is $1200- no food
http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/rates08-09.html#family
Double rooms are $1300 with meals 5 days/week or $1100 triple. Rooms off campus are cheaper.
In Seattle, a double with average meal plan is $6900-7250 for three quarters, and $6300 for a triple.
http://hfs.washington.edu/uploadedFiles/Student_Housing/Residence_Halls/Application_Information/Autumn_2008/ResHallRateSheet08-09_final.pdf
In Tucson, they price food separately. Academic year is $4700-$5300
Eugene- a double with regular meal plan is $8200.
http://www.life.arizona.edu/undergraduate/forms/2008_2009_forms/08_09_rates_paymentplan.pdf
thus: California students are paying more. Is this cash working its way to the janitors and cooks?
..and make room for me. I'll gladly pay the rate increase at those levels.
mmm. Yes, if one hasn't learned the lesson about personal debt levels from the current economic crisis, a key point to remember is that student loans cannot be dropped or forgiven via bankruptcy.
We have all watched out aspiring lower middle class people were taking on very large mortgages relative to their income due to the marketing or psychological message that these prices are normal, people who are serious about life should become homeowners and perhaps scrimp a bit more to pay. It turns out that it just didn't add up; people with that earnings level have bills other than housing such as medical, retirement, food gas. They go into foreclosure and the debt is discharged. Lesson learned. Some mock their math skills for having taken on the mortgage.
With student loans, the debt can follow you into retirement, where your social security check can be garnished no matter how little you earned as an adult. there is the same psychological environment at work. We're all told that responsible, aspiring people should go to college, and there are few alternative vocational training options. And, perhaps it's quite true that students with many professional degrees in dentistry, law, or engineering do end up earning a pretty-penny as adults. Yet, many or most students at UCSC, or grad students in fields like social work, will have a hard time gaining skills for those Silicon valley defense industry firms. Indeed, people with years of experience are having a hard time over there these days. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12006023
And anyone with math skills and historical perspective will be aware that previous generations in the 70s and 80s paid a lower fraction of prospective wages to attend school. Is it responsible to your future children to take on such debt?
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/12/reduce_the_rate_rev_jesse_jackson
We have all watched out aspiring lower middle class people were taking on very large mortgages relative to their income due to the marketing or psychological message that these prices are normal, people who are serious about life should become homeowners and perhaps scrimp a bit more to pay. It turns out that it just didn't add up; people with that earnings level have bills other than housing such as medical, retirement, food gas. They go into foreclosure and the debt is discharged. Lesson learned. Some mock their math skills for having taken on the mortgage.
With student loans, the debt can follow you into retirement, where your social security check can be garnished no matter how little you earned as an adult. there is the same psychological environment at work. We're all told that responsible, aspiring people should go to college, and there are few alternative vocational training options. And, perhaps it's quite true that students with many professional degrees in dentistry, law, or engineering do end up earning a pretty-penny as adults. Yet, many or most students at UCSC, or grad students in fields like social work, will have a hard time gaining skills for those Silicon valley defense industry firms. Indeed, people with years of experience are having a hard time over there these days. http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12006023
And anyone with math skills and historical perspective will be aware that previous generations in the 70s and 80s paid a lower fraction of prospective wages to attend school. Is it responsible to your future children to take on such debt?
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/12/reduce_the_rate_rev_jesse_jackson
These aren't dorms.
Rental contracts are based on a 12 month year, right?
What's the current rent?
What's the proposed increase?
Does your rent include utilities?
Rental contracts are based on a 12 month year, right?
What's the current rent?
What's the proposed increase?
Does your rent include utilities?
Rent at UCSC is not a constitutional right......get another job etc. Welcome to the REAL WORLD People....we are ALL struggling!
Go to a different school...
Move somewhere else.....
Stop complaining!!!!!!!!! This site is full of WHINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go to a different school...
Move somewhere else.....
Stop complaining!!!!!!!!! This site is full of WHINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saying that rents have gone up 56% in nine years and will now go up another 7.5% sound sort of impressive..until I do the actual numbers in dollars.
If you're paying $1200 now (which is waaaaay below what everyone in town is paying for a similar rental), that means that:
-a 7.5% increase is $90 a month.
-a 56% increase in 9 years means rent has gone up about $600 over 9 years, or an average of $66 per year.
In comparison, a quick view of Craigs list is showing me that an avg. price for a 2-bedroom in town is running $1500-1800.
If you're paying $1200 now (which is waaaaay below what everyone in town is paying for a similar rental), that means that:
-a 7.5% increase is $90 a month.
-a 56% increase in 9 years means rent has gone up about $600 over 9 years, or an average of $66 per year.
In comparison, a quick view of Craigs list is showing me that an avg. price for a 2-bedroom in town is running $1500-1800.
$90 Dollars a month may not sound like a lot, unless you are a grad student who makes $1500 a month and is already paying $1210 in rent.
Our rents here don't include utilities. Tell me that almost an additional hundred dollar is nothing when you are feeding you family on less than $200 every month.
Our rents here don't include utilities. Tell me that almost an additional hundred dollar is nothing when you are feeding you family on less than $200 every month.
My point is that you have it a lot better than most of us, who aren't lucky enough to have won the family student housing lottery.
We too, pay utilities with our rent. We too struggle to get by. We too get our rents raised.
I'm not sure why you should expect to be treated any differently, or why I'm supposed to rally round that. And imo, you guys don't pay "outrageous rents", nor is 6.5% a "huge rent increase" in this community.
We too, pay utilities with our rent. We too struggle to get by. We too get our rents raised.
I'm not sure why you should expect to be treated any differently, or why I'm supposed to rally round that. And imo, you guys don't pay "outrageous rents", nor is 6.5% a "huge rent increase" in this community.
The above commentator is an idiot.
S/he suggests that just because some in town may be paying more than some in FSH, then the residents of FSH don't have shit to complain about.
That's basically saying no one has a right to complain about their situation if there's anyone else that might have it more difficult. We all know that's b.s., because everyone has a right to affordable rent!
And we have to remember the purpose of Family Student Housing. They're there to help recruit and retain graduate students and others with families who provide an important contribution to UCSC. They're the T.A.s, researchers, and others that make the university run. FSH isn't there to subsidize the university's future growth, but retain what's already there!
Because the university and the state of California provide so little support to graduate students, who frequently are employed as T.A.s, they can't afford many other options. It's not like FSH is a state of the art facility. They're old and need a lot of work, but at least there's a community of folks that live there.
---
If UCSC's so concerned about raising revenue, why don't they start charging rent for the Chancellor's free house? and the Provost houses? And why don't they make a salary cap of $100,000 for all university workers.
And don't forget the elephant in the room:
How is it that UCSC has money to expand the university, but no money to fund the programs that it already has?
S/he suggests that just because some in town may be paying more than some in FSH, then the residents of FSH don't have shit to complain about.
That's basically saying no one has a right to complain about their situation if there's anyone else that might have it more difficult. We all know that's b.s., because everyone has a right to affordable rent!
And we have to remember the purpose of Family Student Housing. They're there to help recruit and retain graduate students and others with families who provide an important contribution to UCSC. They're the T.A.s, researchers, and others that make the university run. FSH isn't there to subsidize the university's future growth, but retain what's already there!
Because the university and the state of California provide so little support to graduate students, who frequently are employed as T.A.s, they can't afford many other options. It's not like FSH is a state of the art facility. They're old and need a lot of work, but at least there's a community of folks that live there.
---
If UCSC's so concerned about raising revenue, why don't they start charging rent for the Chancellor's free house? and the Provost houses? And why don't they make a salary cap of $100,000 for all university workers.
And don't forget the elephant in the room:
How is it that UCSC has money to expand the university, but no money to fund the programs that it already has?
I'm sorry, I didn't realize that the topic was a sacred cow. I'll just get in line and agree with you from here on out. Silly me to think that people living in FSH might possibly have to deal with the same issues those of us in the regular world of non-academia have to.
But okay, I'm in line now, and agree with you. Just one point of clarification though, if you would be so kind? When you say "And why don't they make a salary cap of $100,000 for all university workers. "...
I assume you include all the future professors who are the current ta's living in FSH in this cohort? Cause, last I checked, 5 of the 9 UC professor's salary grades were over $100K. You DID mean faculty would bite the bullet along with the evil administrators and doctors and nurses at UC who make more than $100K...right?
But okay, I'm in line now, and agree with you. Just one point of clarification though, if you would be so kind? When you say "And why don't they make a salary cap of $100,000 for all university workers. "...
I assume you include all the future professors who are the current ta's living in FSH in this cohort? Cause, last I checked, 5 of the 9 UC professor's salary grades were over $100K. You DID mean faculty would bite the bullet along with the evil administrators and doctors and nurses at UC who make more than $100K...right?
HA! All of you eco-nuts used IndayBay to support the tree sitters. They opposed more UC growth. No growth means no more on campus housing built. Less housing means higher rents. You have yourselves and your short sighted ideals partly to thank for this.
I was unable to attend. Did anyone take any notes? If I could get a copy of them that'd be great.
For more information:
http://thenewuc.wordpress.com
Previous generations of students so successfully opposed construction of new housing, that current students now get to live with, and in, the results. Maintenance costs are much higher on those old clunker units, so quality of living goes down. That's what happens when "progressives" stand in the way of progress because they care about trees and "endangered" insects more than they care about other students.
Think you have it tough? My place is $1,700 per month.
You accepted those student loans - now grow up and live with your decisions.
Think you have it tough? My place is $1,700 per month.
You accepted those student loans - now grow up and live with your decisions.
Strange how the cry for "no salaries above $100K" stopped once it was pointed out that app. 275 of the 380 salaries above that amount belong to faculty at UCSC. And what is family housing, but an incubator for faculty?
Solidarity; it sounds nifty till it hits your own wallets.
Solidarity; it sounds nifty till it hits your own wallets.
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