Bill Spurs Fullerton Hopes : Cal State Seeks Money to Build Its First Dorm

Cal State Fullerton is a commuter campus that has hundreds of students with no place to commute to: It’s simply too far from home.

Although the university has 23,000 students from all over the state and is still growing, it is one of only two campuses in the 19-campus California State University system without dormitories. That situation is causing increasing problems for non-commuting students, who must scramble each semester to find affordable places to live, university officials say.

So Cal State Fullerton officials are particularly interested in a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) that would provide $4.2 million to build Cal State Fullerton’s first dormitory.

Would Cover Half the Cost

The money would pay half the cost of a 400-student coed dorm. The other half, university officials said, would be raised by issuing revenue bonds and retiring them from dorm fees.

The dorm probably would be about six stories tall and would be built north of the campus’s University Center. If the Legislature provides the money, tentative plans call for construction to start sometime next year, with opening planned for 1987.

“They (dormitories) are certainly needed,” said Allen, a member of the Assembly Education Committee, adding, “I don’t think there should be any problem” getting the legislation passed.

Called Campus Priority

Cal State Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb said a dormitory is a priority for the campus.

“The housing vacancy statistic in our region is less than 2%,” said Cobb. “And if one were able to find such vacancy, the rents in our area are extremely high. In addition, over 4,000 students attending Cal State Fullerton must drive over an hour (each way), often on crowded freeways, to get to campus.”

According to the CSUF Housing Office, rents for apartments off campus start around $390 a month and range upward to $800.

“We’ve had a shortage of housing for the last several years,” said T. Roger Nudd, the university’s vice president for student services.

James Sharp, the university’s associate vice president for facility planning and operations, said student rental fees in the proposed new dorm would be about $225 a month.

Jerry Keating, director of public affairs for the Fullerton campus, said a major reason there is such a low vacancy rate in the area “is because we’re in the midst of a very well-developed education center--Pacific Christian College, the Southern California College of Optometry, Western State University College of Law and Fullerton (community) College are all in our vicinity.”

Lease Arrangement

Keating said Cal State Fullerton until the early 1970s had a lease arrangement with privately built dorms across Nutwood Avenue from the university. Those dorms are now a part of Pacific Christian College.

“We found in the early ‘70s that we couldn’t operate the dorms profitably, and we terminated our lease,” Keating said.

Sharp noted that in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, student unrest was in full flower on college campuses. He said it was in vogue to live away from campus. Also, he noted, off-campus housing was considerably cheaper in the early 1970s.

“In those days,” said Keating, “some of the apartment owners were even offering students their first month’s rent free.”

The need for affordable student housing for non-commuters is but one reason CSUF wants a dorm, Cobb said.

“Dormitories provide a residential education that enriches the academic experiences of every student who is fortunate enough to live on campus,” she said. “The possibilities to work more conveniently outside of class, whether in the laboratory, in the studio, in the rehearsal hall or in the library, are considerably greater when one’s home is the campus.

“Research on residential living has established clearly that students (who live on campus) have better grades, have opportunities for closer relationships with faculty and have a more positive and lasting memory of their university so that they often become more loyal and devoted alumni.”

Student Constituents

Although Fullerton is not in Allen’s district, the assemblywoman said she introduced the dorm bill because so many students in the Garden Grove-Cypress area she represents go to that campus.

She said she discussed the proposed appropriation with the governor’s Finance Department and the state Treasurer’s office before introducing the bill Feb. 6.

But so far, Gov. George Deukmejian has taken no stand on the dorm bill, a spokesman for the governor said Friday afternoon.

Keating said that in efforts to build support for the legislation, Cobb has been talking to all members of the Orange County delegation. So far, he said, there is no known opposition.

Allen’s pivotal role--that of actually sponsoring the legislation--turned out to be a surprise for Cobb.

Allen said that although she and Cobb had discussed the need for dormitories on the campus, they missed several telephone calls to each other, and Allen never got an opportunity to tell Cobb she had decided to introduce the legislation this month.