Living expenses can significantly increase the cost of going to college, and for UC Berkeley students living on-campus, the cost of room and board is among the highest in the country.
In a recent ranking by U.S. News & World Report, UC Berkeley is second on a list of the 10 most expensive room and board fees for the 2011-2012 academic year — the only other public school besides UC Santa Cruz to make the list.
With an average annual cost of $15,272, the fees are more than $6,000 higher than the $9,047 average across all schools, according to a U.S. News survey of 1,130 schools.
Location is the primary reason why living expenses at UC Berkeley are higher on average than other public schools, said Marty Takimoto, director of marketing communications for Residential and Student Services Programs at UC Berkeley.
Because the university is located in a major urban area, “everything from space to construction costs to food costs is going to be higher,” Takimoto said.
The fees, he said, cover utilities, operational costs, internet and cable access, as well as student programming.
“Ninety-seven percent of freshmen live in residence halls, and as part of their experience, we have support programs that assist them through their first year at Berkeley,” Takimoto said.
However, Ashmita Baral, a freshman living in Unit 2, said the programs are not well-publicized and may not be worth the extra cost.
“I don’t think many students are informed about it, so even if it is included in the cost, I don’t think it’s worth it.”
Baral added her parents, who are paying for her housing, urged her to live in an off-campus apartment, but she wanted the experience of living in a dorm. She plans on moving into an off-campus apartment next year.
Freshman Alissa Dawson said the housing fees combined with daily expenses in Berkeley are steep. However, the convenience of on-campus living is worth the cost, she said.
To help offset the rise of tuition fees and provide accessibility for housing, the program put a one-year moratorium on room and board increases last year, Takimoto said. This year, there is a 2 percent increase for housing costs.
To help fund construction and outstanding debts in the long-term, the program is refinancing properties and reducing operational costs.
“We were able to reduce our operating expenses by about $1.8 million last year,” Takimoto said. “We want to make sure that students are able to live with us and attend the university.”
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Does anyone know how I can contact Ashmita, if I wanted to talk to her.
Sure Mummy and Daddy have. Two students share a one bedroom that rents for $1700 per month and is just as close to the campus and that is for an entire 52 weeks not for 34 weeks like University housing. Or three or four students share a two bedroom apartment that rents for $2200 per month. Off campus housing is a lot less, even the university admits it is less on its website, though undersating how much less. There are definitely one and two bedroom apartments for less than the prices quoted. Those are prices for nice units in the best campus locations
http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/home/cost.htm
The above comment is in reply to Jack McCoy.
“Baral added her parents, who are paying for her housing, urged her to
live in an off-campus apartment, but she wanted the experience of living
in a dorm.”
Evidently, Mummy & Dada haven’t priced Bay Area housing. $15k wouldn’t cover more than 5 months of living expenses and on what planet must those parents live to encourage their freshman to live in an apartment?
wtf? 15K is WAY more than enough… split a room in an apt and you pay $600 rent for a year and you’ve barely spent half. The rest is plenty for books, food, partying, etc.. (I wish I had 6.5 to 7 K a year to spend..)
more accurate; $600 a month for a year plus utilities: 8K
University of California Berkeley tuition increases
exceed national average rate of increase. Cal is most expensive USA public university. Why? To cover the inefficiencies created by the 8 year leadership of Chancellor Birgeneau…
Nice picture. Are those three bras hanging over the railing of the top bunk?
Yes. She is wearing a “Boobies” wrist band. I see a theme emerging here.
Regarding “Guest’s comments”.
1. Your comment about land for student housing is true but only for older student housing facilities such as Bowles Hall and Stern Hall which were built at a time when the campus had more available land for such projects. More recently, student housing has been built on existing parking lots because of the lack of open space options which, until a very recent policy change, required significant payments for parking replacement.
2. Regarding your comment about the Blue and Gold Program: Student housing in public colleges and universities is an auxiliary enterprise and operates without the benefit of funding from either the state or student academic fees. A portion of student fees paid by all students does in part support financial aid programs such as the Blue and Gold program but there is no similar program associated with student housing room and board or rental fees. Private institutions such as Stanford and Harvard are able to use their substantial endowment funds to support their financial aid programs and student housing operations.
1.What new undergraduate student residence hall was built on existing parking lots? Foothill was the last undergraduate student residence hall built on land not occupied by undergraduate residence halls in the early 1960′s and that was two decades ago. The final four parcels on that block bounded by Hearst, LaLoma, Highland, Ridge, were acquired in the mid 1980′s when housing prices in that area were about 25% of the current market and the market price of rental buildings was even less since there was no vacancy decontrol as Costa Hawkins(Civil Code 1954.50-1954.545) did not go into effect till 1996, and there was no Ellis Bill till 1986(Govt Code 7060-7060.7) so conversion to TIC’s was not yet a driving force for the price of rental properties. Even the increase in rental rates due to the Searle Decision did not take effect till 1991.
http://www.berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/phi_delta_theta.html
Clark Kerr was the site of the State Deaf/Blind School that moved to Fremont due to the presence of the Hayward Fault and that was three decades ago.
http://berkeleyinthe70s.homestead.com/files/za-defbln.htm
The infill units on the Southside were built on the same site that housed the units and prior dining commons and those sites were acquired over half a century ago. Cross roads was built on the site of the old housing office. Are you referring to Channing-Bowditch? Channing Bowditch charges $3848-$4404 per month to rent either a single occupancy bedroom in a four bedroom apartment or a double occupancy bedroom in a two bedroom apartment. Even very nice 2 bedroom apartments on the Northside within a block or two of the campus rent for around $2,500 per month. Channing Bowditch rents are significantly more than private market rents.
http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/channing_bowditch.html
2.”there is no similar program associated with student housing room and board or rental fees.”
The university can switch streams of cash flow from an enterprise fund or other fund to a general fund or other fund by setting artificial transfer prices that are not market determined. This is referred to as creative fund accounting.
Good illustration of the type of financial shenanigans the university employs to obfuscate actual income, expense, profit and loss or whatever one wishes to call a profit for a non – profit.
Guest: ” The university can switch streams of cash flow from an enterprise
fund or other fund to a general fund or other fund by setting
artificial transfer prices that are not market determined. This is
referred to as creative fund accounting.”
Marty Takimoto RSSP: “More recently, student housing has been built on existing parking lots
because of the lack of open space options which, until a very recent
policy change, required significant payments for parking replacement.”
“Location is the primary reason why living expenses at UC Berkeley are
higher on average than other public schools, said Marty Takimoto,
director of marketing communications for Residential and Student
Services Programs at UC Berkeley.”
Not exactly, Mr Takimoto, the reason the residence hall/dining plan fees at UC’s are so high has little to do with the location. The land the dorms reside on was acquired at very low cost even correcting for inflation, years ago, often by eminent domain. Other costs such as heating, electricity and food are lower in California than for instance Cambridge Massachusetts yet the residence halls at Berkeley are more than at Harvard or MIT or for that matter Stanford.
Harvard: $12,801
http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/financial_aid/cost.html
MIT
Housing: $2,708-$4,111 per semester
http://housing.mit.edu/undergraduate/rate_chart
Dining: $2500-$4500 per year
Total: $7,916-$12,722 per year
http://dining.mit.edu/meal-plans/options
Stanford
Residence Halls: $2337 per qtr
Dining: $5279 per year
Total: $12,290
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/shs/ugrad/ugrad_rates_11.htm
Berkeley: $11,707-$17,419
http://www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal/rates.html
The actual reason the residence hall/dining plan fees are so high at UC’s is because included in the cost is an involuntary charitable contribution that equals about 40% of the residence hall/dining plan fees. This pool of money allows the university to offer grants that fully or partially cover the residence hall/dining plan fees of students from families with an income under $80,000 per year that are eligible for Blue and Gold and pay no tuition, approximately 45% of UC undergraduate students according to the linked graphic below and over 50% according to the statement on the UC website pertaining to Blue and Gold, also linked below. In other words, the actual residence hall fees that reflect costs associated with the residence hall and meal plan fees of the student paying the fees, excluding the forced charitable contribution to pay for the residence hall and meal plan fees of other students who qualify for Blue and Gold are about 60% of the current fees.
http://i55.tinypic.com/6y1vsk.jpg
Blue and Gold:
What Blue + Gold covers”Under
the plan, your systemwide fees will be fully covered by scholarship or
grant money if you are in your first four years at UC (two if you’re a
transfer student).The
plan combines all sources of scholarship and grant awards you receive
(federal, state, UC and private) to count toward covering your fees. If,
for example, you receive Pell and Cal Grants and private scholarships that
don’t fully cover your fees, UC grant money will make up the difference.Students
with greater financial need can qualify for even more grant support to
help defray other educational expenses (like books, housing,
transportation, etc.) In fact, UC currently provides grant and scholarship
assistance averaging $11,100 per student to more than half of
undergraduates.”The average $11,100 per student to more than half of undergraduates is over and above the amount to pay for tuition. The forced charitable contributions contained in UC tuition and residence hall/dining plan fees is why UC tuition is now so high and why UC residence hall/meal plan fees are now so high and why UC is priced out of the range of middle class students who come from families making over $80,000 per year, too much to qualify for Blue and Gold or any grant type financial aid and why the $80,000-$120,000 segment of middle class families though containing over 50% of UC eligible students only supplies 8% of UC students.
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/grants/blue-gold/index.html
Students need more options. How about a plan to tear down People’s Park and build new apartments and dormitories?
That plan is fifty years old:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Park
The hobo-loving townies won’t let the University do it.