When Vivian McFarland decided to enroll in Orange Coast College, a community college in Costa Mesa, the college’s on-campus housing complex, The Harbour, was a major factor.
Living on campus makes for an easier commute to class, said the graphic design major. And it’s been easier to make friends, by participating in dorm events like a recent ping-pong tournament.
“It’s actually a pretty nice environment with a lot of my peers, and just people the same age, going to the same classes,” McFarland said.
Busy dorms and student apartment complexes are hubs of campus life at four-year colleges throughout the state. Soon, residential campus life will be a reality at a growing number of California community college campuses as well. The state plans to spend $2.2 billion on student housing over three years, and a dozen community colleges have already been awarded construction grants totaling more than $500 million to build new dorms or expand existing ones.
The Harbour and another recently constructed student housing project at Imperial Valley College in El Centro offer a look into the future of student housing at the community college level. While the addition of affordable housing for these students can ease financial tension and provide a sense of community, colleges also must contend with concerns about safety, management accountability, and the need for other on-site services.
Twelve of the state’s community colleges already provide housing; most are in rural areas, and built dorms in the 1960s to serve students who couldn’t easily commute to class. But the new wave of campus housing projects is coming to urban and rural campuses alike, aiming…
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