Grad Housing

UC Graduate students have two options: on-campus grad housing or off-campus rental market. However, when it comes to affordable housing, we really have NONE. Take UCSD as an example.

Some terms and definitions:

COL: Cost of living. The amount of money needed to cover the basic expenses living in an area such as housing, food, transportation, taxes and healthcare.

SAFMRs: Small Area Fair Market Rents. US Department of Housing and Urban Planning (HUD) publishes annual Small Area Fair Market Rent data which estimate 40th percentile gross rents paid for standard quality units within a metropolitan area or nonmetropolitan county. It provides a guideline for Housing Voucher Program. However, it might lag behind a steeply increasing rent market.

Rent Burdened: HUD defines rent burdened as spending more than 30% of income for housing. Those who spend more than 50% of their income are considered as 'severely housing cost-burdened'.

HDH: HDH is a self-sustaining auxiliary entity and it cannot be subsidized from any federal, state or tuition fund according to UC Policy-BFB-A-59.

A line graph showing the ratio of median grad housing rent (monthly) to selected graduate students' stipend (monthly). Before 2018, the rent ratio was approximately flat, the ratio for step 5, step 10 GSR and TA were below 30%, while the ratio for tutor was 36%. The ratios have a small increase in 2018, following by a huge increase from 2019 to 2021. The ratios are roughly 56%, 41%, 41%, 30% for tutor, step 5 GSR, TA and step 10 GSR respectively. A red horizontal line marked the "rent burden" 30% ratio

Nearly all student titles will be rent burdened if they live in on-campus housing.

A line graph showing the ratio of median SAFMR rents around UCSD to the selected graduate student salaries. The ratios were above 30% (A red line marked as rent burdened) for all job titles throughout 2012 to 2023.4.In 2022, the ratios are 80%, 60%, 60%, and 45% for tutor, step 5 GSR, TA and step 10 GSR respectively.

All student titles will be spending more than ~45% of their monthly salaries on off-campus housing rent in San Diego.

Before 2019, all related academic student titles were already spending more than 30% of their monthly salaries if they live off-campus. This makes the demand for on-campus housing extremely high. It might take 12 month to 35 months on the waitlist to get a bedroom. However, the lowest paid graduate students still can't afford this option.

After 2019, the situation became even more unbearable. Now, the top paid GSR would be spending 30% of their income on rent even if they stay at graduate housing. Graduate students are constantly stressed out about one of the most fundamental human needs, where can I afford to live?

A plot showing the median UCSD grad housing rent per bed (without adjustment for inflation) from 2011 to 2022. The median starts close to $500 to more than $1000 dollar with the steepest increase from 2019 to 2021. A shaded area was used to illustrate the range of rent/bed. The lowest rent changed from $400 to $900 while the highest rent changed from around $900 to more than $2100.

What Happened to the Graduate Housing Rent?

UCSD graduate housing almost doubled their rent from 2019 to 2021, causing housing insecurity on its students, during a pandemic.

Who CAN stay in on-campus Graduate Housing?

2-year-limit: Out of a standard 6 year program, you can only stay at on-campus housing for 2 year maximum.

Pets: Non-service dogs are not allowed in all on-campus housing. Pet cats are not allowed in Mesa Nueva, Nuevo West/East (graduate housing with the most units).

Priority program: Graduate, professional, and undergraduate students with children have priorities in family housing.

*Double occupancy room: If you're an additional occupant, you are required to move out if the primary occupant moves out. If an additional occupant moves out, the primary occupant might be asked to relocate to maintain the double occupancy rate.

A bar plot showing the annual data for the total number of bedrooms in grad housing, the total number of enrolled graduate student, the number of graduate student lived on-campus and the number of family members lived on-campus.

Even with every bed filled, more than half of graduate students have to stay off-campus.

Historically, around 40% enrolled Grads lived in on-campus housing

But really, who is WELCOME to stay?

Take a peek at some quotes from Mesa North Residents Meeting Minute, Sep 20 2017

"A resident asked for the timeline for rebuilding at South Mesa. Mark shared there is not a timeline. The resident stated her rent has gone up $400-600, but her stipend hasn’t changed. Mark introduced April Bjornsen, the Assistant Dean of Graduate Division and requested everyone works together to discuss this issue. (We know now it was a fake promise.)

A resident asked if anyone takes into account a single income family when considering budget. Mark stated, historically, housing has not taken into account personal financials when configuring rental rates.

A resident stated that housing is a recruiting tool for graduate students promising affordable housing. Students may choose to go somewhere else. Cory responded that one of the reasons why the housing needs to be built is campus leadership wants to recruit larger numbers. The number of master students is going up. Master’s students tend to be younger, don’t have kids and are here for a short period of time. This is one of the factors that drove the projects. A resident responded stating Housing needs to take care of the students who are already here."

The plan.

The development summary table taken from the mesa planning study Fig 7.32. It showed 6 phases of development replacing old mesa units with newly build housings. Phase 1 Nuevo West, Phase 2 Nuevo East and Central Park. Phase 3 Regents North. Phase 4 Regents South. Phase 5 Mesa South Family housing. Phase 6 Mesa West

According to the Mesa Planning Study 2016, there will be 6 phases of development replacing all old Mesa housing and introducing new Regents North and South. If things go well, there will be more bedrooms provided for graduate students that are close to campus. However, we already saw a huge rent increase after phase 2 was completed. Although the planning study was published in 2016, HDH claimed that they have to rise the rent to cover unexpected loss.

Some quotes from the current residents FAQ page.

Why is HDH experiencing losses?

"Fixed costs are largely driven by mortgages on residential buildings and HDH front-line staff salaries. The historically low graduate monthly charges have not covered expenses."

Why did the university build new graduate housing and incur additional mortgage payments?

"Mesa Nueva monthly charges were set below mortgage costs with the anticipation that the rest of the graduate housing portfolio would subsidize the development and meet the waitlist demand. This strategy did not support the additional development necessary to reduce the waitlist. ...... The resulting structural deficit has required HDH to pivot to a new pricing strategy that meets two objectives: 1) Continue to offer graduate housing priced below similar units in the market by 20% (or more); and 2) Progressively eliminate HDH deficits over the next 10-years."

This left us with one question. Will it happen again if HDH loss is not covered as planned? It's especially important if any remaining or new development plans are in action.

Line plots showing the ratio of average monthly rent for grad housing compared to SAFMR around UCSD. Before 2021, all units are 20%-50% less than market price. After the rent increase in 2021, all unit types except studios are within 80%-100% of the market price. 1 Bedrooms are more than 90% of the market price

We compared the average rent/bed for graduate housing to the average SAFMR rent/bed for zipcodes 5.5 miles within the UCSD campus. Our calculation does not support the claim that graduate housing rents are set at 20%-30% below the market rent. The 1B1B apartment is almost the market rent. Note that the most common 2B1B floor plans at UCSD are not common in off-campus housing, leaving residents with less sqft/person.

Today: Grad Housing Rents are NOT 20%-30% lower than the market value

UCSD's share in driving the Off-Campus Rental Market

It's no news that San Diego is an expensive city. However, is the rent matching strategy reasonable if UCSD is contributing to the rise of local rental market?

A plot showing the median SAFMR rent per bed (without adjustment for inflation) from 2011 to 2023. The mean starts close to $950 to more than $1650 dollar with the steepest increase from 2019 to 2021. A shaded area was used to illustrate the range of rent/bed. The lowest rent changed from $600 to $1050 while the highest rent changed from around $1500 to more than $2750.
A line plot showing the ratio of undergraduate students living on campus to the total undergraduate population from 2013 to 2021. It showed a decrease from 45% to 37% from 2013 to 2021

UCSD continues expanding despite lack of sufficient housing

The loop: More enrollment, more housing, more rent to cover the new buildings, beds/enrollment ratio not increasing, more students fighting for off-campus housing, more rent for off-campus housing, on-campus housing matching the rent increase; more enrollment, more housing......

Looking to move? - the reality

It's standard to use Fair Market Rent when determine if rent is reasonable. Nevertheless, many will find that the real experience is more hostile than they think.

Many off-campus housing requires applicants to provide proof of income three times of the monthly rent. Our low monthly salaries make it impossible.

California Housing Crisis -- it's more than just graduate students

CalMatters: Housing crisis in California
Wikipedia: California housing shortage

Please note: this page is still a work-in-progress. Please check back soon for more analyses!