Cal Poly Humboldt fines students for sleeping in campus lots

Two RVs are parked in a lot next to a light pole to which two bicycles have been locked.

By Ryan FonsecaStaff Writer

Dec. 1, 2023 6:32 AM PT

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Good morning. It’s Friday, Dec. 1. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

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The housing crisis playing out in one CSU’s parking lots

Some people seeking degrees in California’s two- and four-year colleges face a stark choice: pay for tuition or pay for housing. For many students, that means attending classes by day and sleeping in cars, vans or RVs at night.

Times higher education reporter Debbie Truong spoke with Cal Poly Humboldt students who formed a community while staying in the G11 parking lot on their campus.

“They shared resources: propane tanks to heat their living quarters, ovens to cook meals,” Debbie wrote. “They helped one another seal leaky roofs and formed an official campus club aiming to secure a mailing address. They felt safe.”

But that sense of security was shattered in late October by a letter from campus administrators. The gist: overnight camping is prohibited, so move or risk getting your vehicle towed and disciplinary action. The episode has drawn backlash and renewed debate over California’s high housing costs.

Some students moved to different parking lots and tried to keep a lower profile, but found citations on their windshields in November.

School officials sent a campus-wide email, saying parking lot camping “creates unsanitary and unsafe conditions for both those encamped and for our campus community at large.”

The university’s sociology department responded with a letter calling out school officials for enforcing a policy they said “criminalizes” students and serves to intimidate them into leaving campus.

The student-led University Senate also passed a resolution that urged school officials to cease enforcement for the rest of the semester and explore safe parking options moving forward.

Some of the students who live in their vehicles reached out to school officials, hoping to discuss their situation, but some of those officials refused to meet with them.

“We’re putting everything we have into our education in order to be here,” student Maddy Montie told Debbie. “For them to just keep putting all of this added pressure onto us just seems really unnecessarily cruel.”

The tension at Cal Poly Humboldt highlights how “low-income California State University students determined to earn a college degree struggle to meet their basic needs amid the state’s student affordable housing crisis,” Debbie explained. That crisis also extends beyond the CSU system.

A 2020 report from UCLA breaks down just how many students experience homelessness while working toward a degree:

One in five California community college students (20%).
One in 10 CSU students (10%).
One in 20 UC students (5%).

That adds up to hundreds of thousands of students struggling to find housing at over a hundred campuses across the state. A report published by the Cal State system last year found nearly 33,000 students lacked housing assistance they needed.

Cal Poly Humboldt had 2,069 beds available on campus in 2022, per the report, and more than 5,800 students enrolled last fall.

As at many other campuses, the housing situation at Humboldt is exacerbated by a lack of housing in the surrounding area. Debbie notes that the city of Arcata, where Cal Poly Humboldt is located, is dealing with its own housing and shelter crises.

“Plans are underway to ease the strain on students,” she reported. “By fall 2025, Cal Poly Humboldt plans to build more on-campus dorms and apartments, increasing the number of available beds by 1,250.”

But cost could remain an issue and the students of G11 will have to find a solution sooner.

“I can’t afford to pay $1,500, $900 a month and work and then do a STEM degree,” Carrie White, a student who lived in the lot, said. “I can’t afford it.”

You can read more of her reporting on Humboldt students’ struggle to get through college while unhoused in this subscriber exclusive.

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