Starting next academic year, students can postpone worrying about finding off-campus housing for one more year. According to Housing, Dining and Hospitality Services Director Mark Cunningham, the HDH department plans to extend the on-campus housing guarantee for qualified students to 3 years, starting Fall 2011.

This new contract is possible because of several on-campus housing projects currently being built, including Phase Two of the transfer housing complex The Village.

“With the completion of these projects, the campus will extend a 3-year housing guarantee to all incoming freshmen starting in 2011-12 — a first for UC San Diego,” Cunningham said.

In addition, Cunningham said his department is working to provide a guarantee of 2 years of on-campus housing to all incoming transfer students.

The additional housing is part of the UC Office of the President initiative to decrease the number of commuter students. According to Capital Planning Director Cara Fladd, the goal is to house 50 percent of students on campus.

Currently, there are four student housing projects in the works. Muir College and Revelle College are expanding the number of rooms in their apartments to house 275 undergraduate students and 510 sophomore and upperclassmen, respectively. The Rita Atkinson Residences at the School of Medicine campus currently being built will house additional graduate and professional students.

In addition, The Village at Torrey Pines East is under construction and will provide housing for 800 upperclassmen.

The first phase, The Village at Torrey Pines West, was finished in May 2009 and officially opened January 2010. The project was in development for 2 years and cost $12 billion. As with all student housing, funding comes from University of California Long Term Revenue Bonds approved four years ago.

In May 2009, A.S. Transfer Student Senator Adam Powers said 200 of the 1,060 beds available were not being used due to its high costs.

Powers said the complex was not a popular choice to live in because it was not an affordable place to live — rent at The Village costs between $1,200 and $1,400 each month.

However, UCSD spokesperson Christine Clark said that, as of Fall 2010, all space in The Village and on-campus housing is filled.

Currently, The Village at Torrey Pines East is under construction and is scheduled to open in Spring 2011, when it will house about 800 upperclassmen.

According to Cunningham, the university is in the final stage of construction and completion of the new transfer-housing unit is scheduled for Feb. 1, 2011.

This project was initiated in response to the 2005 Undergraduate Student Experience Report survey.

In the survey, students recommended that the campus have more housing options because on-campus housing builds community and allows access to the university and its surrounding neighborhoods.

“[The new structure] will be one of the most innovative and energy-efficient student housing complexes,” Cunningham said. “The unique design of the five residential and two mixed-use buildings allows the ocean breeze to come up through the complex’s hallways and dorms, removing the need for air conditioning.”

A computer model was used to determine the orientation of the building to maximize ocean breeze.

As a result, the buildings are slanted, with openings facing west to eliminate the need for air conditioning.
Cunningham added that the project is reaching completion 7 months ahead of schedule. Phase Two of the Village will include a market — similar to the ones present in Phase One — as well as a restaurant and new meeting rooms.

The university is also trying to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification for the new building, which means the buildings meet sustainability performance requirements such as energy savings, water efficiency and carbon dioxide emission reductions. Phase Two of The Village already fulfills LEED Silver certification.

The housing structure will be apartment style, with two doubles and two singles in each apartment. In addition, solar panels, costing an additional $1.4 million, will be used on the roofs to provide hot water.