College housing causes turmoil among students

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UC Santa Barbara is one of the many colleges struggling with the college housing crisis, lacking sufficient dormitory space to accommodate its students.

Students struggle with financial stability, mental health and academic performance as they struggle to pay for their dorms or off-campus housing because of inflation. Due to the lack of safe student housing options, the crisis became a major issue for students in college across the United States, especially UCs such as Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz.

The main reason for the college housing crisis is the increase in the cost of college, posing a challenge to pay for tuition for families and students alike. Most of the time, while universities offer housing, it is minimal as the demand for affordable housing is higher than they can offer. According to the website College Board, the total federal grant aid is $37.7 billion.

Student financial aid in the United States is funding available to students attending a post-secondary educational institution in the United States. Students receive financial support to cover tuition and, in some cases, housing expenses. According to the website “Credit.com” 3.5 million Americans have a form of federal or private student loan debt. However, this aid may not be enough to cover the housing, making students find other options, such as finding a job to work or asking for student loans. Taking out loans at a young age can cause a financial loophole for students as they graduate college. These loans can cause students to get into debt early, which can take a while to get out of. Rather than spending the majority of their income on rent and food, students pay their earnings to cover their college rent.

One perspective on the issue is from Nicole Pirooz, (‘24) who said students shouldn’t have to focus on paying their debt for college.

“It is a big financial burden for students to solve the issue they need to make housing less expensive,” Pirooz said. “There are too many people and not enough houses, so schools need to expand with building and investing in more housing.”

The rapid increase in enrollment in higher education in recent years has made colleges unable to keep up with the growing student population. Another issue with students living off campus is poor living conditions. According to the LA Times, the issue went across most of America as an estimated 417,000 students lack stable places to sleep. One solution students employ is to sleep in their cars to have a warm place to stay despite the limited space that they have available.

Despite this problem, one solution offered to get rid of student debt is the Public Student Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Designed by the Federal Student Aid, the PSLF aims to encourage students to pursue careers in public service by forgiving some of their federal student loans. Colleges are also taking steps to resolve the housing crisis by building more dorms, particularly community colleges, which received nearly $2.1 billion in funding to provide affordable housing.

Lucas Hekimian (‘24) said colleges should prioritize students more due to students struggling to access housing.

“To combat the housing crisis, colleges need to assist students by either building more housing or not allowing as many students on the campus. Because they are failing to plan, many students are left struggling to have access to the housing they were promised,” Hekimian said.

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