Santa Barbara Travel Forum

Hello!

Here's an un-travelly question, but its so very important to me! I appreciate any help. My brother's studying in SB and is looking for a cheap room to rent that's close enough to (or even ON) campus so that he could walk or cycle to school. He's checking Craig's List and has had several interviews at different flats but the prices are too much above $600. My family is German, I'm writing this email from Germany (soccer world cup going on here! Anyone watching?). In Germany rents for students are lower and there are no or very little university fees so we're really watching how much we spend over here so that he can get a good education and play football and have the time of his life in SB.

I'd be VERY thankful for any tips on where to find cheap close-to-campus housing for next school year.

Thanks in advance!
Have a nice day!
johanna

You or he may have already tried this, but UCSB has a student housing resource at:
http://www.housing.ucsb.edu/
Your brother can search rental listings and/or list himself as in need of a room and maybe specify what he can spend per month on rent.

I'd suggest doing the same on Craigslist, if he hasn't already. Good luck.

Living in Santa Barbara is really expensive... To get rent below $600, your brother would probably need to live with a family where they offer a room and use of the house, or in Isla Vista where he would share a room with 2-3 other students and the apartment with 5-10 students. Isla Vista is right by UCSB - it is a town made up completely of student housing. When I first moved here, I shared a 2 bedroom apt downtown for about $730 including utilities and that's considered a good deal...
Besides craigslist, you can also check the local papers: www.newspress.com and http://class.independent.com/index.cfm?searchOnlineCategoryID=17&searchOnlineSectionID=135
Good luck!