Sophie Gurdus The Universities of California are sought-after, dream schools for students worldwide. Academically competitive, centrally located, beautiful, and prestigious, they garner record applications each year. But they aren’t all they seem. The UC system received 249,855 applications for the 2021 school
year, up 16.1% from 2020, according to the UC Graduate, Undergraduate, and Equity Affairs. It’s clear where this leads: to record numbers of rejections. But student populations are rising as well. So much so that the universities can no longer accommodate them. Schools like UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) and UC Berkeley went into overflow in past years, and the trend has continued. Students had to be moved into hotels instead of dorms. These hotels are off-campus and far, without dependable transportation services. There isn’t even enough space for freshmen on campus, let alone sophomores and upperclassmen. And housing in cities like Isla Vista, Calif., isn’t cheap. Many students cannot afford to rent there, and with the precautions of the pandemic, housing has become more limited. According to Gurleen Pabla, vice-chair of Isla Vista Tenants Union, there are only 10 students in a house on average, compared to 16 in previous years. As a result, rent increases, and housing itself becomes harder to find.
OPINION: UCs ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM
28 HIGHLANDER OPINION
