When 22-year-old sociology major Keily Molina decided to transfer to UC Santa Barbara for the 2021-2022 school year, she expected her housing search to go fairly smoothly. She started applying to listings in and around Goleta and Isla Vista in June, and she put her name on UCSB’s University Housing waitlist in July.
But by September, she started to worry. Landlords were rejecting her applications left and right, and she hadn’t heard much from UCSB about available dorms. Then, on September 17 — six days before the start of classes — Molina received an email from the university explaining they’d booked her a furnished one-bedroom at the Pacifica Suites hotel two miles up the road.
“I’m not gonna lie, when I first moved in on Monday, I did cry. I felt overwhelmed,” said Molina. “I thought I was gonna have a roommate, but then it turns out that I’m alone.”