Quick Take
UC Santa Cruz welcomes about 6,300 new undergraduate and graduate students this week as the university begins another academic year with total enrollment expected to remain around 20,000. The new school year also brings expanding student housing, including a new two-year housing guarantee for incoming undergraduates.
UC Santa Cruz is welcoming about 5,700 new undergraduate and 580 new graduate students this week as the university begins its 2026-27 academic year, with total enrollment expected to remain around 20,000.
The academic year begins with a week of activities called Slug Start to help new students adjust to their new community, on and off campus.
Events started earlier this week with an introduction to the school’s athletics and recreation programs on Monday, a resource fair showcasing clubs and organizations Tuesday and a student employment fair Wednesday.
For the remainder of the week, students will take over the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk on Friday, and on Saturday on campus they’ll dance at a silent disco or munch handfuls of popcorn at a movie night.
This new school year also coincides with several new housing developments for the university – which has long struggled to provide affordable housing for its students. While UCSC provides on-campus housing for about 9,300 of its students, students for years have said the on-campus housing is cramped, vulnerable to mold and pests, unaffordable and difficult to obtain, which leads them to the wider private rental market. For four consecutive years, Santa Cruz County has been named the least affordable rental market in the country.
UCSC has several housing projects, including expansions and new developments, coming online this year and in the coming years that it says will help address the crunch. Delaware Apartments on the Westside of Santa Cruz opened this fall for 350 upper-division undergraduate students and more than 60 employees. And during this academic year, the school expects to complete the Kresge College renovation, expanding its number of student beds from 395 to 993.
Next fall, the school is aiming to open a joint housing project with Cabrillo College on the community college’s Aptos campus. Costa Vista will offer housing to 240 UCSC students and 380 Cabrillo students.
With these new units available, this fall UCSC started offering a two-year housing guarantee to its new undergraduate students.
For more information on the week of events for UCSC’s new students, click here.
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