Family student housing is in short supply across California

Seven years after she first enrolled at her local community college, amid multiple moves between her car and motel rooms plus countless waitressing hours, Elizabeth Clews is finally celebrating graduating with her associate degree in history.

A former foster youth who constantly has faced homelessness, she has remained determined to continue her education and become a teacher after transferring to a university in the fall while caring for her children, ages 4 and 8.

But Clews continues facing what has become a consistent challenge among students with backgrounds like hers: securing stable housing all year. Housing for her and her two children has become the greatest deciding factor in where she decides to transfer to complete her bachelor's degree.

“It is very significant that it took me seven years to complete community college,” said Clews, who graduated this spring from Ventura College in central California. “And while there are many reasons for that, I would say that the biggest reason that it took me that long to obtain a two-year degree is because of housing insecurity.”

Many California schools long have offered on-campus housing year-round for their students, whether they be student-athletes, previous foster youth, international students or just students who may not want to leave their college town during the summer and winter breaks. But missing from that list at most schools is housing all year for students with children.

The demand for family student housing differs from campus to campus, but it has increased at several schools across California in recent years.

Despite the varied, and often limited, offerings for family student housing, there are thousands of student parents in California. Out of 1.5 million students in California who applied for financial aid in 2018, 202,327 of them were parents, according to a report by UC Davis' Wheelhouse community college research center. That's 13.4% of all students who applied for financial aid during the 2018-19 school year.

“The primary challenge we face with family housing is having enough supply,” said Jeff Cooper, director of student housing and residential life at Cal State Monterey Bay. “Additionally, students with families have different needs and expectations from our `traditional' students. We work to meet these differences by locating family housing in areas that have playgrounds, gathering spaces, and offering contract terms that support their need to place their dependents in local school systems, as applicable.”

Being a full-time student makes scratching together money for rent difficult, leading many students to opt for discounted student housing when it's available. But even if a campus offers housing, it isn't always an option for all students, as it is rarely designed to accommodate families, and many colleges don't allow children in their on-campus housing, or even in their emergency housing programs for homeless students.

Within the California State University and University of California systems, most campuses long have offered on-campus housing during and between academic terms for eligible students, though spots tend to be limited as campuses often have more students than the on-campus housing available. Among the California Community Colleges, just 11 campuses out of 116 offer any type of student housing.