Despite significant growth in the number of residential students California Baptist University experienced at the beginning of the fall 2018 semester, CBU is still able to guarantee housing to its resi- dential students because of the large number of commuters.
This year, CBU’s residential student population grew enough to challenge the housing guarantee for those who wished to live on campus and a handful of students were put on a waitlist for housing for the first few weeks of school.
According to the Office of Residence Life, 3,233 of 3,290 available housing spots are currently occupied. With roughly 10,000 students enrolled at CBU, approximately one-third of the population is living on campus.
Kirk Bernal, associate director of the Office of Residence Life, said on-campus housing availability is impacted but no longer full.
“We were running a wait- list at the beginning of August, maybe even into a little bit of September, but we have since cleared the waitlist and have spaces available now,” Bernal said. “In the natural course of school starting, people tend to decide not to come or they realize they actually do want to live at home, or whatever might be the case.”
Bernal said there has been a rise in roommate conflicts because more students are living with random roommates.
Residence Life encourages roommates to work things out first between each other, then with a resident adviser and finally with the residence director before relocating them.
However, Bernal said the department understands when conflicts cannot be fixed and a change needs to occur.
Jordan Elliott, sophomore communication studies and leadership studies double major, said the housing situation is logical, given the recent student population growth.
“For CBU, it’s probably (overall) a good thing because it shows that we’ve been growing,” Elliott said. “The more students we have, the more the campus itself grows.”
CBU has been named the third-best campus housing in California, according to Niche.
Living areas host events for their residents and freshmen are able to experience a fun, inviting atmosphere within their dorm halls.
Kimberly Gledhill, junior sociology major, said on-campus housing helps her feel integrated into CBU’s community.
“Living on campus allowed me to easily connect with the campus community through events and (provide) consistent communication with other residents,” Gledhill said.
CBU’s growth has sparked the need for new construction such as the Events Center, the Dennis and Carol Troesh Engineering Building and future parking structure.
As the student population continues to grow, CBU will create additional housing units to provide students with the opportunity to live on campus.
