Why doesn’t Berkeley build more housing? Like, I understand it takes a lot to build housing, but I just feel like Berkeley isn’t spending their money right? Like to only have Freshmen guaranteed housing is pretty embarrassing. If you look at Blackwell, they wasted so much space for what could’ve been more room. They built a courtyard In the middle of Blackwell (which is a huge square in the middle of the building) that is just empty space. Like theres literally nothing there besides a bunch of rocks and plants. We can’t even set foot out there. They could’ve easily built more rooms or even built the building a lot taller. I see other institutions building new dorms as if theres no tomorrow. Berkeley is one of the only big schools I know that has such a terrible housing crisis.
Lots of large state Us (including flagships) are strapped and are hurting re resources. It’s a shame but it is what it is. Pretty much freshmen stay on campus and everyone else scatters about.
If that hole were filled in, would it really significantly increase capacity while still allowing everyone to have a window?
Didn’t they just open Blackwell? And I think I’ve heard that Edwards Statdium, where the soccer teams lay, will be demolished and new dorms built.
Blackwell is fine as it is. No qualms. My kid really enjoys Blackwell even though it’s a long trudge from Cory and Soda.
There will be a lot more built in the future.
When a Cal is still getting 100,000 applications each fall and has a 17% acceptance rate, they clearly aren’t too worried that lack of on-campus housing will drive people away. For some people, on-campus housing is an important consideration and schools should be evaluated with that in mind. Securing and paying for college housing can be very stressful for all parties. When D was accepted, we had heard about the 1 year guaranty. Then, when trolling the Cal website, we saw that they weren’t even guaranteeing THAT. This was 2016. D got on-campus her first two years (dorm in year 1, apartment year 2) and is now off campus (rent control in Berkeley has helped, but it’s still an expensive area). I hear from friends who’s kids are at UCLA (3 years guaranteed) who are off campus now, because “guaranteed” means dorms and they are just done with the dorm thing after the first year or two. So “guaranteed housing” may mean different things at different schools.
As for Blackwell, I think the whole “humans need natural light” might have driven the design to be what it is. Hey, it’s one more housing option than they had last year, so, baby steps. If you are in Blackwell this year, enjoy. Nothing like “60’s era bomb shelter” design (some of the units buildings) to give you serious Blackwell envy. D is a bit bitter :))