For some student residents at Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB), settling back into their dorms for spring comes with unhappy memories. Housing waitlists, less-than ideal living standards and – for students with disabilities – the complicated process of obtaining living accommodations.
“My doctor recommended a single and the approval of an Emotional Support Animal – for me. I was placed on a waitlist and never received any status on it…even with my doctor’s letter, I was assigned a double with the only option to amend this was to request a roommate change,” said first-year biology student Mia Vasquez, recalling her frustrating two months before committing to CSUMB.
Vasquez was one of many students who shared their frustrations regarding the obstacles they encountered in their pursuit of housing accommodations, from alleged poor communication between the Student Disability and Accessibility Center (SDAC) and Student Housing and Residential Life (SHRL), to some students’ accommodations being unmet all together.
The process of gaining an accommodation is through on-campus departments SDAC and SHRL. SDAC is in charge of verifying the students’ need for the accommodation and housing implements that accommodation based on availability.
The recommended timeline for incoming students to turn their accommodation documentation into SDAC is two months before the start of the semester, as different cases could have longer lead times.
“SDAC tries to process student accommodations as quickly as possible,” said Public Information Officer Walter Ryce on behalf of SDAC and SHRL. “SDAC is busier at certain times of year, such as at the start of each academic year, which can result in longer wait times to meet with an SDAC advisor.”
Though university officials say they do their best to accommodate all students in need of accommodations, students disagree.
Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Ben Corpus spoke on the school’s behalf, agreeing the communication between SDAC and the students applying for accommodations has room for improvement.
“SDAC counselors are available,” Corpus said. “I have seen in my short time here emails from parents and students where they have not heard back [from student housing and SDAC] and all I can say is that I hope that we address this, so that everyone gets a response as soon as possible.”
In the fall of 2024 the school had 7,713 students enrolled, compared to the 6,742 students enrolled fall 2023, with around 3,936 beds available in the campus housing department. This is the largest population the school has seen since opening in 1995.
“I think what happened, for at least the last 10 years, we had a lot of availability,” Corpus said. “It was pretty easy to move people around because there was a lot of room, more than there is now. Now that we do not have it, I think it could be the case that students [thought], ‘oh I knew I could always get what I wanted.’ Well not anymore because we got full earlier on.”
The budget went down but at the same time enrollment went up, of course, that is going to cause campus-wide stress,” said Corpus. “It is growth and demand, not recovery period. We are far more popular and now we have to respond to that growth. I do think we can do a better job communicating earlier with students.”
Additional strain to SDAC and SHRL continues to reflect in student experiences with housing.
Second-year humanities and communication major Breann Dolan originally applied for housing accommodations before starting her first year at CSUMB in May, 2024. Dolan said that though SDAC often gives students the accommodations they need, the issue arises when those accommodations are not honored by housing. “They’re pretty accommodating, they’ll pretty much give you any accommodations that you get from a doctor, but the issue is that housing doesn’t always honor those accommodations,” said Dolan.
Dolan’s accommodations were for her celiac disease, an autoimmune disease that is qualified as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. “And so my accommodations basically request for me to be able to select my roommate so that I’m rooming with people that I know can keep, like, the kitchen safe and keep me safe,” said Dolan. However, issues arose when Dolan tried to renew her accommodations for the following year in February.
Dolan recalls being met with confusing communication and back and forth with SDAC personnel, including the center’s lead senior disability advisor when trying to renew her accommodations. “I reached out to them there and then I was in contact with like a thousand different people from housing,” said Dolan. She is now living in Strawberry Apartments with the accommodations she fought for.
Priority consideration for SDAC applications are received throughout March. Although they are still received and accepted after, students are encouraged to apply within the priority window due to limited availability.
“Housing takes the lead from SDAC, their relationship is the key,” said Corpus.
“The two departments work throughout the entire year through various communication channels, specifically a portal that transmits approved housing change information. Representatives from both departments meet frequently to address specific student needs or general situations,” said Ryce.
Since student housing depends on SDAC’s approval to start implementing the accommodation, there can be delays in the process.
“Students may request a specific accommodation and through the evaluation process, SDAC may determine that another type of accommodation is reasonable to meet their needs,” said Ryce.
“We can not talk to any individual students during submission [of admission application] though, there are three steps students have to go through, part of it is getting their applications in, in a timely manner,” said Corpus.
“We have a lot of students who do not get their transcripts in on time, or are delayed with some other element of their application. If all their elements are not submitted to SDAC, and the housing process starts, housing will not place them with an accommodation until there is SDAC approval,” said Corpus. “Students or families believe that it’s ‘required by law that we get these accommodations.’ Well yes, and you also have the responsibility to beat the deadlines and submit all the paperwork, whether it’s housing, admissions or SDAC, in order to get what you believe you need in a timely fashion.”
Third-year psychology student Jordan Flaum shared their experience, recalling their need for accommodations after having knee surgery. “First of all, there was no button (for automatic opening) on the door, as all ADA compliant buildings must have. Second, the door was too heavy, so I was basically trapped in a wheelchair confined to my home because of the fact the doors were too heavy to open in a wheelchair,” said Flaum.
For many, these obstacles combined with not knowing what further steps they can take to overcome them can take an emotional toll. “I think a lot of the time what’s really frustrating to me is that…the way that they communicate, it makes it feel like they are frustrated with me for needing accommodations,” Dolan said. “It seems like they think that I’m being difficult, which is really frustrating because…I don’t wanna have to ask for these accommodations.”
While acknowledging students’ frustration, Corpus says he doesn’t see “systemic issues.” It’s a matter of staffing up to meet demands.
“The good news is that we are trying to hire new SDAC staff with the new student fee,” Corpus said, “ so the hope is to get one or two more people in that office. More volume means more cases.
“We need more help.”