Is this the first year for direct admit to CS? Is DS direct admit too?
Yes, this is the first year that both CS L&S and DS are direct admit. Fall 2023 is the first time that the High Demand major policy has been instituted.
Does anyone know about the quality of housing on the UCB campus?
not great, and very limited.
Its just for 1 year, and I’ve heard it can be cramped. “All incoming first-year students are guaranteed a housing offer for one year, provided they meet all deadlines and select “any room size, any location” as one of their housing preferences.” Compare “Beginning in the fall of 2022, UCLA will guarantee up to four years of housing in university-owned residences for incoming freshmen and two years for transfer students”
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but isn’t it a lot harder to find housing in LA than berkeley? i’ve never been to berkeley but isn’t the housing not terribly-hard to find there (which would make berkeley non-4-year gaurantee not so bad)?
Well judge for yourself. This may be a good resource https://hotpads.com/ Also I believe most universities housing office accepts and shares housing listings. But I think the larger point is, you don’t actually need to find housing around UCLA.
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The problem isn’t availability, it’s price. If you have the money, you can certainly find something decent. If you’re on a tight budget, you will have a problem.
Berkeley does provide this service to try to make it a bit easier on students to find off campus housing and potential roommates:
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The problem for Berkeley is that people squeezed out of the hot SF rental market tend to go to Berkeley where they get better value for $$$. With SF cooling off a bit I hope some of those people flow back to SF and Berkeley demand eases up a bit.
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And my understanding is the problem with finding housing near UC Santa Cruz (as opposed to “just” the price problems at UC Berkeley), is that it’s hard to find UCSC housing at ANY price. It’s just. . .unavailable. I did check availability around UC Berkeley and it looks more available at this time of year than say housing does at UCSB or UCD. I figured it’s because the housing market in Berkeley is not SO tied to the university school year schedule.
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UCSC has very little multi family housing stock. And it’s been a problem for years.
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I think the general rule around here is that if you can pay, you can find something. It’s the being able to pay that can be a problem…
i’m not too aware of the cost of living in berkeley specifically. ik california is expensive and especially in LA, is berkeley’s housing costs also super pricey too? i’m not from cali btw
Well, I’ll believe it when I see it. I think even if rents go down a bit in SF, people will still find (relatively) better value here, especially for families with kids. You can get more space here, and often better schools. For young families, this can be a more attractive area, even if they can technically afford SF. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll see much change until more housing - including affordable housing - is built, but there is so much NIMBY pushback against such projects and howls about the “Manhattenization of Berkeley” (remember when that was just SF? Apparently now it’s Berkeley, too, at least if my local NextDoor is to be believed).
Yes. A studio in Berkeley can easily run you $3K/month. Obviously, students would likely have roommates to keep costs down, but even still, a decent place in a decent neighborhood is probably going to cost $$. Although, I know sometimes students find ways to cut corners around things and maybe some have managed to retain a rent controlled unit for a number of years so that the rent is lower than market rate. But you would definitely need to look and get very lucky.
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so what happens in 2nd year? they have to find their own housing off campus?
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Typically yes.
Housing is something that should be looked into for every college on the list.
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If your student is at all interested in Greek life, the Greek housing at Cal is a great deal. I paid roughly $12K this year for my D20 which included room, board & her chapter dues.
Cal has other housing like Tellefsen Hall that’s for marching band members and various co-ops that offer room and board & tend to be less expensive than regular apartments.
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Our Tour Guide (so take this for what you will) in February said about 65% of students still have Cal housing their second year, including the campus apartments. That sounds a little high but that was his claim.
That’s a steal nowadays!
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