Catherine Rusoff
Situated on California’s northern coast, among towering redwood forests, is Cal Poly Humboldt, one of 23 campuses in the California State University system, the largest network of public universities in the US.
The campus is home to many students struggling to afford the rising cost of a college education and the costs of California. high cost of housing led to living in their vehicles.
“I don’t feel homeless, but I am legally homeless,” said Brad Butterfield, a Cal Poly Humboldt journalism student who told CBS News he is among dozens of students living in a trailer or other vehicle.
One in 10 students in the CSU system has experienced homelessness, according to a 2020 study report from UCLA.
Butterfield and several other students parked on campus until school officials enforced a ban on overnight camping in November 2023.
“This is becoming the norm for students to be able to afford college,” Butterfield said. “It’s a lot cheaper and it’s the only way I can go to school. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be here.”
In September, the CSU system voted to increase monthly fees, which will represent an increase of 34% in five years. For the 2024-2025 academic year, annual tuition for in-state undergraduate students will be $6,084which does not include expenses such as housing.
Some of the Cal Poly Humboldt students who previously parked overnight on campus say they are now struggling to find off-campus parking for their RVs. In Arcata, California, where the University is located, there is a 72-hour parking limit on city streets.
“The only thing we ask for is a place to park, so I have a place to sleep,” said Maddy Montiel, a recent Cal Poly Humboldt graduate with a degree in environmental science and management, who lives in what she affectionately calls a trailer. Pearl.”
CBS News
Montiel and Butterfield, who are dating, park their vehicles together for added security.
“What has become the hardest thing is simply finding a place to exist,” Butterfield said, noting that numerous parking tickets “come with the territory of living in a vehicle.”
Hours after Montiel and Butterfield relocated their trailers to reduce parking in front of a vacant lot, a police officer again warned Montiel about the city’s three-day parking limit.
“It’s very tiring having to move all the time,” said Montiel.
“Being told to leave but not being told where to go or why you have to leave – it’s just, ‘We don’t want you here’…when the university and now the city tell you that too, I mean you can ignore it, but at the end of the day it sucks,” Butterfield said.
Cal Poly Humboldt cited the “health and safety of the campus community” for parking enforcement in a statement, saying “university parking lots are not intended for overnight camping and are not equipped with sanitation and other facilities necessary to support RVs or other vehicles at night.”
Carrie, a biology major at Cal Poly Humboldt who asked that her last name not be given, lives in a 20-year-old school bus that she renovated.
“You have to worry about things like… how much power you have, running water, like, where are you going to shower,” she said. “But really the biggest stressor has been: Where will I be safe at night?”
Carrie called the student housing situation a “humanitarian crisis” amid rising tuition costs.
In an effort to provide some relief, two California Democratic lawmakers introduced AB 1818a bill that would establish pilot programs at community colleges and schools within the CSU system to allow students who use vehicles for housing to park overnight on campuses with a valid parking permit.
“The status quo is not acceptable,” the bill’s co-author, Assemblymember Corey Jackson, said in a statement to CBS News. “Solving the homelessness crisis is a state priority, and our colleges and universities, as key state institutions, must actively contribute to its resolution.”
Jackson colleague and bill co-author Sharon Quirk-Silva told CBS News, “While this bill is not the solution to the housing crisis, it provides a crucial safety net for students facing insecurity. housing, ensuring they are supported, not penalized, as they work towards stable housing.”
The bill heads to the California Assembly for a vote next week.
Students who spoke to CBS News said choosing to live in vehicles shows how much they value education.
“I know some people might say, ‘Well, you know, you chose this lifestyle,’” Carrie said. “I think it shows that we are resilient and creative and that we want to be here because we chose to be here and that’s what we want to be here for.”
