Summer Frequently Asked Questions

You only need to be in ONE of the following categories to be eligible for Summer 2010 housing in our co-ops:
• You are a full-time student at a college or university (UCB or another) during Spring 2010, working toward a recognized academic goal
• You will be a full-time student at a College/University (UCB or another) for Fall 2010
• You will be taking classes at UC Berkeley for Summer 2010
• You are a former BSC member who lived in a BSC co-op and left the organization in good standing

Acceptable verification includes ONE of the following (note that all verification documents must be dated after February 15, 2010 and include your name and the College/University name AND, if you are applying for Convent or Hillegass/Parker, the document should clearly show that you are a Grad/Re-entry student):
• a copy of your Spring 2010 registration with a current date OR
• a copy of your Fall 2010 acceptance letter OR
• a copy of your UCB Summer 2010 confirmed class schedule
Note that we will not be able to consider you for assignment until we have received the proper verification of membership eligibility. If you are/were a UC Berkeley student in Spring 2010, we may be able to verify you on the UC Rolls without additional documentation. Contact us to find out if we can verify you in this way.

We will be making the first round of summer contract offers by the first week of April. This first set of offers will be made by mail and prospective members will have two weeks to return the contracts with payment to reserve their space for summer. Some people will accept their offers and some will not. Then, to speed up the summer assignment process, we will start making contract offers by phone/email. We usually contact people in the afternoon and give them approximately 24 hours to get back to us before we offer the space to someone else. So be sure to give us a reliable phone number and/or email address on the Reservation Request.

The full Summer 2010 contract period will be May 23-August 14. Our contract period is based on the UC Berkeley calendar.  There are also options for contacts for half of the summer.  The first half of summer contract runs May 23-July 2 and the second half of summer contract runs July 3-August 14.

Once you have signed a contract, you can cancel the contract in its entirety without penalty by giving written notice on or before May 5, 2010.  If you cancel after that, your charges will depend on whether or not we are able to replace you.

The three houses which will be open for room and board are Lothlorien, Wilde, and Hillegass/Parker. Additionally, even room-only houses often decide to charge a small fee to keep staples on hand for all. You will have kitchen privileges in a communal kitchen in your house or an individual kitchen in your apartment.

Summer residents who live in the co-ops for at least 6 weeks will have priority on the fall waiting list. However, summer residents are not guaranteed a spot in the co-op for fall. You should also be aware that if you do receive a fall assignment, it will not necessarily be for the same house or apartment you are assigned to for summer. You must be a full-time registered college student to live in the co-op during the academic year. See our Academic Year eligibility requirements. Spaces for Fall are assigned from a separate waiting list, so if you are also interested in Fall, make sure you put yourself on the Fall waiting list too. (No additional fee is required.)

For the Summer contract period, it is usually easier to get an assignment to an apartment than an assignment to a house. We recommend numbering as many places as you are willing to live in as the more preferences you have, the more likely it is that we will assign you.

The workshift requirement will be approximately two hours a week for room-only houses and approximately eight hours total for the summer for the apartments. Houses which provide food will have a greater workshift requirement ( 5 hours/week). You can read more about workshifts here. 

You are guaranteed a single only in the Convent, Hillegass Parker, Rochdale Village and Fenwick Village (excepting Fenwick one-bedroom apartments which may be shared by two people). You are not guaranteed a single in the houses for Summer, but it is extremely likely that you will get one.

If you wish to be placed in a co-op house or apartment with a particular person (or persons), you may require that you be placed with them. This means that we will not place you in a co-op unless we can place both (or all) of you together. You will indicate this on your summer reservation request form. Be aware that we can only honor reciprocal pairs (or groups). You may require only one other person for the Fall semester.
For those of you who desire to be placed with another person(s), but would still want to be placed if you cannot be placed together, then you can request to be placed with others on you Summer Reservation forms.

Each resident is guaranteed a bed, desk, dresser and chair. If any of these things are not there when you arrive, just ask! You are also welcome to bring your own furnishings.

Summer 2010 rates will be available by March 2010. You can view the cost for last summer on the Rates page.