Graduate student: ‘This is a gift’
Family Housing residents worry burgeoning costs will one day outweigh inclusivity
Vicki Carey-davis considers herself lucky.
Every day she gets to watch her son play with neighborhood children who do not speak the same first language, who eat foods foreign to her son and dress in a style unlike his.
“The reason why I went into graduate school is because it is an incredible environment,” said Carey-davis, who is pursuing a master’s degree in organizational leadership at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“It is communal, it is international. It is one of those rare communities where we lend each other our cars and go grocery shopping together.”
International students make up 67% of the total student population that resides at CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing, according to a statement from the campus.
City data show that the percentage of people who identify as Black, Indigenous and people of color who live near Graduate and Family Housing is about 35.69%, with a margin of error of 8.62%.
“We definitely notice more diversity in the university area,” said Stew Lapan, Boulder senior IT business analyst.
“I think it’s OK to suggest that the university is one of the biggest sources of diversity in Boulder right now.”
The diverse setting combined with the subsidized rent is why Carey-davis never wants to leave, she said. But she worries that won’t always be the case as everincreasing rent, coupled with burgeoning cost-of-living and stagnant student wages will eventually make moving to Boulder and covering the basics nearly impossible, especially as tuition costs for some international students are already nearly double what in-state students pay.
“We are trying to survive,” Carey-davis said. “We still have this collective human trauma (from the coronavirus pandemic) that we all experienced. I think based on patterns, I think what’s going to happen in higher education is the same thing with the great resignation. University students are going to be like, ‘Why would I go to one of the most expensive cities in the United States and not be supported when I could go to Europe?’ At some point something is going to break, and they will be like, ‘It’s not worth it.'”
In recent years, residents at CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing have begun to worry about more than just the everrising costs of tuition for both domestic and international students. During the 2021-2022 school year, CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing made three changes to its handbook, triggering a petition from United Campus Workers of Colorado.
Since the handbook update, one of the changes has since been reverted, but the others continue to put even more pressure on tenants scrambling to make ends meet.
The first change introduced a $30-per-month charge for parking at graduate and family housing, and tacked on an extra $20 a month for every additional vehicle a tenant owns; the second requires residents give notice 30 days before moving out, and if residents move out prior to the end of their lease, they now receive a fine equivalent to one month’s rent; and the last change cut the moveout time down to 14 days after graduation, although the campus later changed the policy to 30 days after.
“I really love this community, and my hope is that the university realizes the value that this community brings to the university (and) to the city of Boulder,” Carey-davis said. “Without this, if they don’t realize the gift they have, and they keep raising rates or if they are bombastic in how they raise rates, there is a potential that they will lose talent. The university brought us here from another state. The university is bringing some of the smartest people in the world here. This is a gift, and the university doesn’t see it.”
An aftereffect
As the world grappled with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, CU Boulder in 2020 slashed the annual 3% raise given to graduate students.
The following year, the campus restored the 3% increase and the 5% decrease it made to certain employees’ salaries, but graduate students did not receive an additional 3% raise to make up for the salary freeze — keeping graduate students’ salaries stagnant for two years, said Sam Zhang, a CU Boulder doctoral student studying applied math and member of UCW Colorado.
While wages remained frozen, rent at Graduate and Family Housing still increased by 3%.
“It feels like they are trying to starve Graduate and Family Housing out,” Zhang said. “People think Graduate and Family Housing is subsidized housing, but that’s just not true. The university makes a lot of money off the residents in Graduate and Family Housing.”
Last year, Zhang, as part of his program at CU Boulder, received a salary raise, which lowered the amount of his earnings that went toward rent from 51% to 46%, he said. As the sole source of income for his two-person family, the pay raises may not always be enough if inflation and rent continue to outpace what he earns.
“If you look at our PH.D. stipends, there is a minimum established by the graduate school,” he said. “When you look at the minimum and adjust it for inflation, our wages have not been lower in at least seven years. We are making 10% less than we did in 2020.”
The flatlined wages and rising rent made the three changes to the handbook even more of a surprise to residents at CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing, Zhang said. Prior to the $30 monthly parking fee, parking at Graduate and Family Housing was free for the first vehicle and $10 per month for every additional vehicle.
In a provided statement, the campus said the parking fee goes toward the general maintenance and operations of CU Boulder parking facilities, ensuring adequate and safe lots and garages. Prior to the update in the handbook, the fee was included for all residents’ rent. Although it has since been removed, residents did not see a decrease in their rent due to rising inflation that has outgrown the annual 3% increase on rent at CU Boulder graduate and family housing, campus officials added.
“In turn, we were able to better manage the overall budget by absorbing the rate of inflation beyond the 3% rent increase,” the statement said.
But charging just those who own a vehicle more, while not reducing rent for those who do not, isn’t what residents want, Zhang said.
“Everyone used to pay the same amount,” he said. “The people without cars don’t feel that way. No one wants their neighbor to pay more.”
Prior to the handbook update, when it came to notifying CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing about plans to move out, residents previously could give 45 days notice rather than 30, and they could move out without a penalty.
The third change, which updated the deadline residents have to vacate graduate and family, shortened the time tenants graduating in May had to move out. Previously they had until July 15, but now it’s 30 days after graduation.
For students or families who are not only finishing classes, it makes life that much harder when they also know they don’t have much time to find a new place to live, said Upasana Dutta, a former CU Boulder master’s student and international student from India.
“That is really difficult, especially for international students, because this is a time when we have to look for jobs, but now we have to focus on finding a new place to live,” she said. “We can only live in the U.S. (for) 90 days unemployed. After graduation, it’s a really crucial time for us to find a job.”
Dutta said she did apply for an extension to remain in her apartment longer but was denied.
“When we asked for an explanation, (the campus) said it was to bring consistency for the time students get to vacate (after graduating in December),” Dutta said. “Instead of giving everybody more days, they decided to shorten the time for everyone.”
Elsa Culler graduated from CU Boulder in summer 2021, but fortunately for her, she found a full-time job on campus and did not lose eligibility to continue living at Graduate and Family Housing. She was also fortunate to not be hit with the onemonth penalty, because she and her partner bought a house in Denver — one of the exceptions to the new rule. The campus does not penalize tenants who graduate, withdraw, end employment, purchase a home, demonstrate proof of hardship, end their two-year faculty and staff residency limit or end their five-year postdoctoral residency limit.
Even though the rule worked in her favor, she questioned the fairness of it, as many Graduate and Family Housing residents cannot move out and immediately purchase a home.
“They waive all of the requirements if you’re buying a home,” she said. “Someone who is renting when they move out is more in need of financial assistance. They said here are all of the exceptions, and one of those is if you are buying a home. I think that’s really strange. It’s just discriminating against people based on their financial status. Our point is that you have this big, long list of exceptions. Why not just give everyone an exception?”
Charlotte Dennis, a spokesperson for CU Boulder, said the campus wants to make sure that as many current students as possible are able to live in Graduate and Family Housing, and units are not occupied for extended periods by individuals who are no longer affiliated with the campus.
“A one-month penalty is only given to residents who are still affiliated with the university and choose to break their lease before the end of the leasing period,” Dennis added. “There are exceptions to this policy so as to not provide undue hardship on residents who have experienced life-altering events. For instance, the fee will be waived in the case of a medical emergency or disability that has disrupted the resident’s ability to reside in their unit. Also, if a resident has bought a house and provides their closing paperwork to the GFH office, they will not be charged a one-month penalty. GFH understands that the barrier for entry into the housing market is high, and waives this penalty to assist residents in the house-buying process.”
A community-first approach
Even with the handbook changes, there’s a lot to love at CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing.
Yes, rent is cheaper than anywhere else in Boulder. But for many, it’s not just the cost of living that keeps them there, but the events and programs that make Graduate and Family Housing home.
“Graduate and Family Housing has people from all over the world,” said Nichole Miner, an undergraduate student who lives at Graduate and Family Housing with her daughter. “Funding ways to foster community and bring people together is really important. There are people here that don’t have any family in the country. I don’t have any (family) in the state. I have mostly met people through resident council events. I think it’s also important to give people ways to decompress or have fun or find ways to be independent like the bike maintenance class or our (English as a Second Language) class.”
But in order for the Resident Council to continue planning events, it is reliant on funding, which has continually been cut over the last few years.
Campus officials said the Resident Council submits an itemized budget request for review and consideration for community programming and community building activities every fiscal year. After CU Boulder evaluated the council’s budget utilization, it found “significant amounts of resident council funding” that was underspent. Therefore, during fiscal year 2021, the campus reduced the council’s budget to reflect what it was using.
During fiscal year 2018 the resident council used $12,005 of its $13,000 budget; in 2019 it used $8,969 of its $10,000 budget; in 2020 it used $7,084 of its $12,750 budget; in 2021 it used $2,948 of its $5,500 budget; and in 2022 it used $3,649 of its $5,500 budget.
Following conversations with the Resident Council during the fall semester, CU Boulder Student Affairs reallocated $1,360 in funds to add to the council’s existing budget in support of the council’s programming needs, campus officials said. Residence Life also allocated an additional $800 in funding for advertising and $200 per semester for council development and tea-building.
Miner said not only is restoring funding crucial to maintaining and expanding events and programs, but so is paying the people who make those gatherings possible.
CU Boulder Graduate and Family Housing Resident Council members receive a stipend, which goes toward reducing a portion of their rent. In 2018 a councilmember received between $95 to $223; in 2019 they received $98 to $230; in 2020 they received $101 to $237; in 2021 they received $174 to $244; in 2022 they received $174 to $251; and this year they received $185 to $259.
But what’s made it hard to retain members is the lack of funding for at-large members, which the campus stopped funding in July 2020. Although discussions to reconsider which councilmembers next fiscal year will receive rent reductions have occurred between Residence Life, Graduate and Family Housing and Resident Council, said Andrew Sorensen, a CU Boulder spokesperson.
“People are supposed to be on the Resident Council for a period of time before they become an executive member,” Miner said. “Because it’s all volunteer at (the at-large level) it’s harder to hold onto people. Graduate and Family Housing is such a huge opportunity to do good and to change people’s lives. It shouldn’t just be an income string for the university.”
Some of the events and programs Resident Council puts together include an annual welcome back barbecue, a yoga class, the ESL class and the bike maintenance class. Miner said her hope is to one day have the funding to offer child care.
“We have a huge amount of spouses here that I think bear the brunt of child care,” she said. “It’s a barrier. I am trying to find a way around that. That’s a huge budgetary issue.”
For Miner, being on the council is not only a way to help reduce her rent, but also a way for her to be involved and lift up her community, she said. For that reason, she hopes the campus will continue working with residents to keep living at Graduate and Family Housing both affordable and community-focused.
“I would not be able to be here if it was not for family housing,” she said. “The cheapest two-bedroom I could find in the area is $1,700 plus utilities and fees. They are really trying very hard to implement better (diversity, equity and inclusion) efforts and bring in people of different backgrounds (and) socioeconomic statuses. I think they are missing that Graduate and Family Housing is a huge component of that. They are not going to be able to entice people to Boulder if people cannot afford to live here.”
“Our point is that you have this big, long list of exceptions. Why not just give everyone an exception?” — Elsa Culler, University of Colorado Boulder graduate student