Uncertainty over housing takes its toll on many CSU Monterey Bay students.

Katie Rodriguez here, reflecting on how challenging it continues to be to access higher education—not just getting into a school, but figuring out how to afford the four years of tuition, materials, and the cost of living that come with it.

So, when my colleague Celia Jiménez recently visited CSU Monterey Bay to look into vandalism of the brand-new otter statue, she learned students there are facing another major stressor: housing.

Demand is up, supply is tight, and to make matters worse, a system glitch reportedly wiped out the housing waitlist. Some students say they never got a response in the first place—and now they’re still scrambling to find a place to live.

CSUMB does offer housing to more than 50 percent of its student body, far more than the CSU average, Jiménez reports. Still, the uncertainty is taking a toll. And it’s part of a broader trend at campuses everywhere. I remember friends in college commuting from hours away—or even living in their cars—which deeply affected their academic experience.

As for the otter statue—it was vandalized just 11 days after it was unveiled, but it was cleaned up quickly.

You can read Jiménez’s story in this week’s edition of the Weekly, or online here.