Left Out, Priced Out.

Year: 2022–2023

Left Out, Priced Out highlights four proposals for reimagining student accommodation at UCLA to address both short and long-term affordability issues, as well as to provide maximum flexibility for students. The report suggests four categories of accommodation that the university should consider: Co-Ops, student hoteling, commuter hubs, and Stay-tions. Such a continuum of accommodation would better serve the needs of so-called “nontraditional students” – students whose socio-demographic characteristics differ from those who have traditionally participated in higher education, and whose numbers have steadily increased over the past 50 years. In Fall 2022, UCLA reached a historic milestone of guaranteeing four years of housing in university-owned residences for incoming freshmen, and two years for incoming transfer students. Yet, the university’s residential halls remain unsuited to students who, for example, commute over an hour to campus, hold multiple jobs across the city, or live with dependents off campus. There is still much the university can do to increase affordability and meet the needs of students who experience multiple barriers to completing their education, and to support full participation in academic life at UCLA for financially insecure students and students from historically marginalized backgrounds.