Graduate housing not available in near future
By Dorothy Augustyniak
Oct. 9, 2002 9:00 p.m.
Graduate students may not see relief anytime soon from high rent
in surrounding areas and delays in housing construction, which
affect their studies and even whether they choose to come to
UCLA.
Charles Harless, president of the Graduate Student Association,
said graduate students need affordable places to live that provide
an atmosphere in which to thrive academically.
“Westwood Village is not optimal, and therefore, fewer
graduate students live there,” he said.
The high cost of living near campus also complicates graduate
students’ daily lives, Harless said.
Some graduate students do not even consider the high rent to
live near campus due to family obligations.
Dori Kozloff, a first-year graduate student in education and
mother of a 17-year old son, said living near UCLA was not an
option.
“After watching my husband commute from Seattle to L.A.
for three years, I felt it was my turn to commute from Coto de Caza
to UCLA,” she said.
Other graduate students choose to brave the costs of living in
surrounding cities near campus.
Jamie Lee, a first-year dental student, said living in Beverly
Hills has “costed her a bundle” and “robbed her
precious time.”
“Not only has rent disrupted my life, but with traffic
almost everywhere, I have no personal time to workout, talk with
friends or my parents,” she said.
High rent prices along with delayed construction are the causes
of strain in graduate students’ lives, Turner said.
Though the first phase of the southwest campus graduate student
housing project is to be complete by fall 2004, Turner said the
second phase remains indefinite.
The second phase of the new housing facility, located on Veteran
and Weyburn avenues, will house 2,000 graduate students on the site
of current medical facility Warren Hall.
The delay in Phase Two construction not only affects current
graduate students; Turner said it could affect graduate
students’ decisions to choose UCLA after they receive their
acceptance letters.
“The major reason why some of the best students apply (to
UCLA) but don’t come is the lack of housing,” he
said.
The project is supposed to begin by fall 2005 and will be the
first time in UCLA history where apartments will be set aside
exclusively for graduate students, said Michael Foraker, director
of housing.
The proximity of one’s home to campus is very important
because it determines how much time a student has to study and do
research, Turner said.
Kelly Goodman, a first-year graduate student in history, almost
did not attend UCLA due to the delayed construction and because she
was unfamiliar with Los Angeles.
“I didn’t want to live far from campus. Living a few
blocks (away) would ease my stressful life,” she said.
Having guaranteed housing would give applicants an idea of daily
life as graduate students ,Goodman said.
Foraker said the current project for graduate students will meet
their need for more study time.
“Housing must be available as a resource to get the best
students and provide an academic community,” he said.
Not only do the best students need to be recruited, the plan is
to ease the strain from graduate students’ lives as well,
Foraker said.
