On the east side of campus resides more than 3,000 residents who live and work in the Hillside and Parkside buildings. The Parkside dorm has a limited number of air conditioning units, and only the newly built Parkside North is fully equipped with AC.
Beach students have said, while they enjoy the community aspects of dorm life, the high temperatures from the week-long heatwave combined with the lack of air conditioning have severely impacted dorm living.
“I have to have a fan right up on my face in order to feel somewhat cool,” said Arturo Barcenas, a Beach student living in Parkside North.
With Southern California still in the throes of a record-breaking heatwave, the National Weather Service administered an excessive heat warning to L.A. County. While some students have had a hard time adjusting to the heat, others are learning to live with it.
“It’s been pretty hot, [but] it’s much better to be outside than inside,” Ashley Nieto said, who resides in Parkside North. “At night, it’s not that bad because it’s nice and cold.”
North Residence Hall, located in the upper east of Parkside, is the campus’s first new dorm building in 34 years, and was constructed to utilize renewable energy and other energy efficiency features.
Full payment for any room on campus includes the cost of the room, a meal plan, $60 social fee, and a $275 license service fee that’ll be deducted from the first month’s payment.
Air conditioning units are available for rent on campus and interested students need to apply for one through The Bob Murphy Access Center on campus. In order to do this, a student needs to apply and get approved for an AC unit on BMAC’s webpage.
Parkside residents who aren’t eligible for AC must wait out the heat until the temperatures start to go down at the end of the month.
CSULB University Housing has not responded to comment on the lack of air conditioner units in Parkside housing.