Regulations to stop the spread of COVID-19 appear to be softening since the widespread distribution of vaccines. In accordance with more people becoming vaccinated, California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) decided to open up on-campus housing to students for the Fall 2021 semester.
CSUMB student housing sent students housing information for the 2021 to 2022 academic year via email on April 2. The email provided directions on how to obtain a time slot for students to indicate their preference as to the housing and room type they would like to live in during the next academic year.
According to the same email, before being offered a time slot to select their housing preferences students had to pay a $200 reservation fee, where $150 of the cost was used as a reservation prepayment and $50 was used for their housing application fee. Time slots for seniors, graduate students, juniors and new transfers, sophomores and freshmen were allocated to students on April 5, and those students can continue to pay to receive a time slot until April 16.
Once offered a time slot, students will login to MyHousing at that time to try to receive their most preferred housing type. The email sent by student housing also said CSUMB is “preparing to reopen to full capacity for the 2021-2022 academic year to support in-person instruction.”
After a year off campus, fit with completely virtual courses and university activities, Otters are at last being invited back to CSUMB. Transfer student Emily Callen will be graduating in Fall 2021, and she is glad she will have a chance to live on campus before leaving CSUMB.
“I feel excited to return to campus in Fall 2021,” Callen said. “The pandemic began my first semester at CSUMB, and I am excited to get some actual campus experience before I graduate.”
Callen found signing up to receive a housing time slot to be fairly simple, and said as long as students are checking their school email regularly, they should have no problems when doing the same.
Along with announcing they want to move in the same amount of students as they did pre-pandemic, the email from student housing also stated students are highly encouraged to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In the near future, students “may be required to be vaccinated” by move-in day, according to the email.
Callen believes it’s wise for all students on campus to be vaccinated. “ The only reason I feel comfortable with going on campus is because I will be fully vaccinated too,” she said.
With Fall 2021 starting in just four months, students returning to campus anticipate returning to the lively campus life they left behind in 2020. Hopefully rejoining campus housing and some in-person classes will bring students a sense of normalcy in their academic career.
“I am excited to see old friends and make new ones,” said Callen. “This pandemic has been lonely and it will be nice to be able to socialize again.”