A higher education equals inferior housing
I guess my car is my new home?
By NEVAEH KARRAKER— nakarraker@ucdavis.edu
The roommate search is coming to a close for next school year, but if you feel as if you don’t have everything figured out, you’re not alone. Housing is only guaranteed for incoming freshmen and transfers, and, as the years progress, the number of admitted students keeps increasing. Universities, including UC Davis, are struggling to meet the ever-multiplying demand for undergraduate, transfer and graduate student housing.
Consequently, off-campus housing rapidly fills up — requiring up to a year in advance to validate a lease. On top of that, many students choose to share rent with a group of people. Whether it’s due to affordability or availability purposes, living in doubles and triples indicates the severe gravity of a lack of university housing.
What’s more, waitlists don’t inform you of your placement number; For all you know, you could be the last of hundreds. If you’re someone who is overly prepared, you may put yourself at jeopardy and sign a lease that you cannot withdraw from and risk getting notified later that you got off the waitlist. Or, on the other extreme, you decide not to sign a lease in hopeful patience, and, by the time final decisions have been released, all the apartments have been taken. It’s a lose-lose situation with countless repercussions.
The assignment system itself, while efficient, contains flawed logic. It deems rejection from on-campus housing as a minor inconvenience, rather than an urgent crisis for low-income individuals — even after stating that it’s their last resort on applications.
It seems as though housing acceptance is determined by a dice roll: a rather immoral and apathetic process. In a time when we are so focused on helping the homeless, it’s ironic that distressed students who are at risk become cast aside so easily by the housing system.
While there are some housing accommodations available via the Student Housing and Dining Services, oftentimes it’s nothing more than a half-hearted pat on the back. Helping students acquire an Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card with CalFresh for inexpensive meals, while impactful, does little in the grand scheme of rent and utilities.
While an option, searching for a “cheaper” apartment is not always realistic. For full-time students, not everyone can manage a job on top of their schoolwork. Additionally, for those in good standing with their families, many parents cannot supply a monthly rent allowance given the current state of the job market and rising inflation.
Resources from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is an option; However, this system also contains defects. Despite medical bills, geographical location and parents’ willingness to pay for tuition, income largely determines eligibility. For instance, the same income in one state will provide vastly different services in another. In a way, the personal circumstances of students are based on monetary worth.
This disparity accentuates the widening chasm between the rich and the poor, stranding the middle class — they earn too much to qualify for aid, yet an insufficient amount to comfortably afford necessities, let alone the rising housing costs.
Having said that, considering every unique situation sounds ideal — in practice, though, it’s a logistical mess that only extends the process. There’s clearly no easy or pleasant fix, placing the burden yet again on students and their families.
Proactiveness won’t determine the outcome of housing, but it can help. Students who know for certain that they will be living off-campus should avoid applying for on-campus housing to provide higher chances for those who are unsure. Budget management through summer jobs and scholarships are also great methods to alleviate some financial stress.
In terms of universities, the least they could do is provide the placement number for those on waitlists. And, maybe with enough persistence, housing services can work cooperatively to avoid future debt for students.
Overall, when universities enroll students without the proper infrastructure or means to provide them with adequate housing, it sets them up for failure. It’s an essential part of education, not an afterthought, and it’s time universities treat it as such. The system will continue to unjustly prey on the vulnerable until this mindset is changed.
Written by: Nevaeh Karraker—nakarraker@ucdavis.edu
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