The leasing office for Cabrillo College’s Costa Vista student housing development is now open, and college officials say interest is already strong.
Cabrillo College President Jenn Capps said Tuesday that staff have processed more than 300 interest forms and 30 leasing applications for the development, which is expected to open next year.
The milestone comes as construction continues on Costa Vista, the massive student housing project at Cabrillo’s Aptos campus that will eventually provide 647 below-market-rate beds for Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz students.
Cabrillo and UCSC officials gathered Tuesday to mark the opening of the leasing office and highlight progress on the project. Construction is expected to be completed in summer 2027, with the complex expected to open to students that fall.
“We are on track for a grand opening, which is in about a year’s time, a little under a year’s time,” Capps said.
The 257,000-square-foot Costa Vista development will consist of three buildings and is being billed by Cabrillo as the first student housing partnership between a California community college and a University of California campus located on a community college campus. About 60% of the 647 beds will be designated for Cabrillo students, with the remaining 40% for UCSC students.
The development will include single- and double-occupancy rooms as well as 20 family housing units for Cabrillo students.
For UCSC Associate Vice Chancellor for Colleges, Housing and Educational Services Laura Arroyo, the significance of the project goes beyond simply adding beds.
“We know that students are better able to learn, persist, and thrive when they have a safe, stable, affordable place to live in a community where they feel like they belong,” she said.
Arroyo said Costa Vista grew out of the two colleges confronting a problem neither could solve alone.
“This project represents something bigger than either Cabrillo College or UC Santa Cruz could accomplish alone,” she said. “It reflects two institutions looking at a significant challenge facing our students and our broader community and asking, what can we do better together?”
The project comes as housing costs remain a significant barrier for local college students, many of whom travel long distances to attend classes.
Cabrillo Vice President of Student Services Blanca Baltazar-Sabbah said Cabrillo and UCSC students commute from Watsonville, Salinas and the Monterey Peninsula. She recently met two Cabrillo students who commute from Soledad to attend the college’s Community Human Services program.
Baltazar-Sabbah said having students living near their classes could allow them to become more involved in campus life while reducing the time they spend commuting.
“Hopefully, it’s also going to reduce commute times, it will ease traffic, and this will support our students really focusing more on their education, their families, and being part of our campus community,” she said.
A Metro bus stop will also be relocated to improve transit access for Costa Vista residents.
Cabrillo says rents for its portion of Costa Vista are required to meet state affordability requirements and are expected to be approximately two-thirds or less of the local market rate. Housing agreements will run for 11.5 months, with internet, electricity, gas, water, trash and sewer included in the rent.
Licensing began Aug. 3. Cabrillo students who are enrolled full time, in good academic standing and Pell Grant-eligible or otherwise considered low-income will receive priority until 45 days before the development opens. The college is also providing additional outreach and application assistance to current and former foster youth, veterans and students who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness.
Baltazar-Sabbah said the goal is to make sure students with the greatest financial need get the first opportunity for housing while helping students who might have difficulty navigating the leasing process.
The housing project is primarily funded through State of California student housing grants, with remaining costs supported through private financing that will be repaid through housing revenue. Cabrillo says neither its general fund nor local bond tax revenue is being used to construct the development.
In addition to housing, Costa Vista will include study and gathering spaces, a grab-and-go food space, rooftop garden and promenade.
Costa Vista will also include a planned 5,787-square-foot child care center, which Capps said will serve 64 children, as well as the 20 family housing units.
Cabrillo College and the Cabrillo College Foundation are seeking $5 million for the child care center, with Community Bridges selected to operate the facility. The center is intended in part to serve low-income student parents from Cabrillo and UCSC and provide Cabrillo Early Childhood Education students with paid, hands-on training opportunities.
Capps said those components are intended to address challenges that can prevent parents from completing their education.
“It’s rare to see the level of family support on a college campus,” she said, adding that the project demonstrates what can be accomplished when colleges prioritize students’ “real world needs.”
Cabrillo Student Trustee Josie Fahey said the development recognizes that what happens outside the classroom can play a major role in whether students succeed.
“Student success is more than what you see inside of the classroom, it’s what goes on at home,” she said. “And in one of the most expensive counties in California, home is hard for some people.”
