If you’re an undergrad living off-campus and not with your parents, you can only wish housing was as affordable as tuition. For Cal State students, housing tends to cost two to three times the price of tuition and fees. Food and housing for Cal State students living off-campus accounted for more than half of the total cost of attendance — before financial aid kicked in. Meanwhile, most UC campuses are in expensive rental markets where a one-bedroom apartment rents for more than $2,000 monthly.If students worry about losing stable housing or reliable access to food, their grades and prospects for graduating suffer.

A majority of California college and university students say they have experienced housing and food insecurity in the past 12 months, according to a November 2023 survey by the California Student Aid Commission. That’s way up from just a few years ago, when it was a third of students. The commission blames the uptick on inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the rising need, California’s government has ramped up funding to help campuses provide students emergency housing and food.