UCSD to resume placing up to 3 in dorm rooms

UC San Diego will resume putting up to three students in some dorm rooms this fall to deal with a housing shortage that left nearly 3,200 students on waiting lists last summer.

The shortage largely arose because the school took 2,000 beds out of service to promote social distancing during the height of the pandemic.

UC San Diego officials also said they phased out some of the three-student rooms, or “triples,” because they caused serious crowding problems.

Under a new plan, the university will add 700 undergraduate beds for the fall quarter. UC San Diego is moving ahead with the plan because the COVID-19 infection rate among students is falling. It stood at 6.91 percent Tuesday. The figure was 9.71 percent Jan. 6. Campus modelers expect the number to keep falling.

UC San Diego went to mostly online classes at the start of the winter quarter on Jan. 3 to deal with the COVID-19 Omicron surge, and it will continue to be virtual through January at least.

Chancellor Pradeep Khosla came under heavy pressure from students and parents to restore at least some triples because it is difficult to find affordable housing near campus, even now that the Blue Line trolley is serving the university.

Those additional 700 beds do not guarantee that UC San Diego will avoid another major housing shortage. The school’s enrollment has grown by 14,282 over the past 10 years, reaching a record 42,875. Enrollment is expected to jump again in September, and Khosla says UC San Diego could hit the 50,000 mark within 10 years.

The campus won’t get major housing relief until fall 2023, when it will open a complex on the southwest corner of campus that has 2,000 beds. But the addition of 700 beds is drawing a favorable reaction from many students.

“We’re still facing a housing crunch and it doesn’t seem like it will get better in the La Jolla area,” said Manu Agni, president of UC San Diego Associated Students. “Students are already searching for housing for the fall, and it’s only January.

“They’re bracing for another tough year.”