Cosumnes River College received a grant of more than $44 million from the state of California for student housing.
The housing will be located across the street from the school’s main campus on the Bruceville Road side of campus at 7800 West Stockton Blvd. The project is designed to prioritize affordable housing for low-income students with easy access to the school.
“This project really is going to empower students by providing affordable housing. It really removes one additional barrier that a lot of our students have, you know, facing the high cost of living, the rising rents and the lack of availability of affordable housing,” said Los Rios Regional Director of Philanthropy Michele Steiner. “This is just one way to remove that additional barrier to allow our students to achieve their goals in higher education.”
One of the reasons that CRC was able to secure the grant from the State of California was to provide affordable housing for students, said Vice President Administration Theresa Tena.
“There are requirements for the overall project that you have to provide rent at a kind of below market rate,” Tena said. “Students will be afforded the ability to have housing at below market rate.”
Tena said the requirements to make housing affordable will be met, but are not set yet since the market rate will change once the project is completed.
“There’s a lot of requirements for it, but it’s all going to be priced to accommodate folks who are low-income,” said Associate Vice Chancellor and Facilities Management Pablo Manzo.
Manzo said students who are eligible for financial aid will be the students eligible for student housing.
The student housing will consist of 90 to 100 units and the project is currently in the process of planning the design and will likely take up until spring 2023 to finish, Manzo said.
“I think conceivably we’d be looking at construction starting towards the end of next year,” Manzo said.
Steiner said she believes the student housing project means a lot to the students and community of CRC.
“One of the highest priorities that we have here at CRC is to create a more equitable environment for our students and this housing program really speaks to those who are impacted by the recent market trends,” Steiner said. “We really want to be that full-service institution to ensure our students have all the resources available to be successful at CRC.”