Weed / COS – College of the Siskiyous is one of just a few community colleges in California offering on-campus housing for its students. Existing housing is able to accommodate at maximum 175 beds. Many students who attend College of the Siskiyous from outside of Siskiyou County reside on campus, others in local rentals. However, since 2015, temporary housing in Weed and its surrounding communities has become harder and harder to find. The awarding of this grant will enable College of the Siskiyous to build a new student housing complex consisting of 76 units and 252 beds. Funding for this project has been awarded through the 2022 Budget Act.
“College of the Siskiyous serves a vast rural area at the top of the state where commuting to school isn’t always a viable option for students. And the region’s housing shortage is serious. I am genuinely excited the College won this grant to build new on-campus housing that will create new opportunities for students to prepare for careers,” said Senator Brian Dahle, 1st Senate District.
The Budget Act has committed about $1.4 billion in non-Proposition 98 General Funds to build more student housing across the three higher education segments, about double what the Budget Act of 2021 specified for 2022-23 spending under the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program. The 2022-23 spending includes $546.7 million one-time funds to selected community colleges for housing projects that were deemed eligible for funding in the first round of applications submitted in October 2021. The Budget Act indicates that colleges receiving the grants must deliver, at minimum, the number of beds for low-income students specified in its application when it was approved and must charge rents that do not exceed the rates assumed in that application. The budget allocates another $18 million under the program for planning grants to selected colleges to determine the feasibility of offering affordable student housing. Another $750 million from the program is expected to be allocated to the higher education segments in the 2023-24 budget.
Not all of the construction grants were awarded. College of the Siskiyous is one of only five California Community Colleges (CCC) to be awarded. Imperial Valley (in partnership with SDSU), Fresno City, Ventura College and Sierra College are the other CCCs to also receive grant funding. The new student housing complex would be approximately 63,000 Gross Square Feet (GSF) and will include in-unit bathrooms, kitchenette, and Internet access. Each unit would also be fully furnished with all utilities included. The proposed student housing complex is planned to be located on the Southeast side of campus adjacent to the existing student housing “Lodges” on campus, as defined in the Siskiyous
