As USD students approach the end of the school year, many look ahead to where they plan to live this upcoming fall. All current residents, students abroad and students on a leave of absence received messaging throughout February about the housing application’s availability and deadlines.
Housing rates are also set to increase for the 2025-2026 school year. According to the USD housing website, housing rates will increase by about 5% for students required to live on campus, first and second year students, and by about 8% percent for students not required to live on campus. The USD Residential Life website explains these increased rates.
“Housing rates will increase by ~5% for required students and ~8% for non-required students for the 2025-26 academic year due to market research,” the Residential Life website spells out.
This market research reflects the rising costs in San Diego’s rental market, as well as operational costs and demand. These increases in spending have worried some students looking to pay for housing next year. USD first-year Madeline Li, who will be living on campus next year, reacted to these increased rates.
“The school has been raising all of these prices recently which makes no sense because we are already paying so much to go to this school,” Li said. “I am not completely caught up on school spending, but I feel they should not be charging more for housing. I know there are students who are struggling to find housing next year.”
The Residential Life department at USD responded to worries like these about housing availability and costs on campus.
“Like most institutions, USD does not have enough housing inventory to meet every student’s needs,” Residential Life stated. “However we do our best to maximize our ability to support as many students as possible. We do this by striving to make student housing on campus less expensive than
rental rates off-campus and we will continue to work to keep our housing rates competitive.”
At USD, the cost of oncampus housing is occasionally higher than off-campus options, but the comparison depends on factors like location, amenities and lease terms.
The USD website gives certain criteria that students must meet which requires first and second years to live on campus. While the number of residents per living space has increased over the past couple years, there are still students who have had difficulty finding housing for the upcoming school year. USD first-year Henry Dall, along with three of his first-year friends, do not know where they are going to live next year.
“Housing said that they don’t have spaces for us to live next year,” Dall stated.
“We’re thinking of living in a house or something. We were thinking about maybe getting a golf house anyways, but this might force us to.”
Students are also unsure about the different ways to pay for housing on campus and if there are ways in which free or
The USD Vista
discounted housing is available to those who need it. Mason shared her ideas on how the school can better communicate and create housing payment resources to students.
“I think the school should make it easier to learn about payment for housing, like if there’s scholarships [students] can apply for,” Mason explained. “A lot of my friends have become residential assistants just to avoid the housing payment because it is a lot.”
Another factor worrying students is delayed confirmation about where they will be living next year. Li spoke about her experience with the delays in USD Residential Life’s responses.
“Our housing was delayed about a week, and we only heard back after a week because one of my friends, who was the coordinator of our neighborhood, emailed housing to get a response,” Li explained. “All of my friends know I was super stressed while we were waiting for a response.”
The communication about available resources from Residential Life has been brought up as scarce by USD
students who are unsure about where they can live and when they can apply for that housing.
USD sophomore Brooke Fitz Cluster, who will be studying abroad in Madrid next semester, felt uninformed about where she can live when she returns to school after study abroad.
“They did so many things to make us know how to do housing in freshman year, but as I’ve progressed, they have not told me much which is annoying,” Fitz Cluster said. “They don’t have many resources for those studying abroad. It seems like they make you figure it out when you’re abroad, which is kinda scary because I don’t know where I’m living when I come back.”
Housing at USD does send updates and information on when to apply, reminders on social media and communication by Residential Assistants and Community Directors. Residential Life broke down the different types of updates students have received this semester.
“Students were emailed updates through the month of February indicating that next steps for housing (roommate
group selection and then apartment selection) would occur in late March and April,” Residential Life explained. “Information with specifics about this was then sent to all applicants approved for next steps in the process the week of March 31. Students who applied for neighborhoods were contacted in the middle of March via email with additional information approving or further considering their neighborhood applications.”
There are resources available for those students who are unable to get housing with USD for the subsequent school year. USD Residential Life explained some of the ways that students can find roommates and housing off campus in areas that are not directly affiliated with the school.
“Resources include an offcampus roommate finder, where students looking for roommates off-campus can put in their information and make contact with each other,” Residential Life stated. “USD Graduate and Law Student Commons also provides summary information and data about surrounding communities where graduate and law students tend to live, and undergraduate students can utilize this information as a resource as well.”
As a result of the housing crisis, new residential areas are being built around San Diego to support college students. Private companies have already begun construction on residential areas near San Diego State University. Nico Posehn, a USD first-year student, shared what he is looking for in these types of housing options.
“As [new housing complexes] start to emerge, I would honestly care more about its affordability than what it looks like,” Posehn said. “I think it’s a great idea for companies to start looking to college students as potential buyers and actually serving their need for cheap housing not related to their school.”
As USD students anticipate their residential situations next year, many wait in anticipation for the emails confirming where they will be living, how much they will have to pay and who they will be living with.
Students live on campus in residential halls across campus.
Jason Wu/The USD Vista
ARTS & CULTURE
Back with a bang
Students across campus seen rocking timeless hairstyle
EMMA PIRHALA NEWS EDITOR
LARA DOMINIQUE SOLANTE COPY EDITOR
There are many rites of passage for young people: their first car, their first love and of course, their first fringe. On campus and out in the real world, there has been a resurgence of bangs of all different styles. Notable celebrities such as Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift and Daisy Edgar-Jones have all made bangs part of their style, and they are starting to catch on with college students.
USD junior Eva Ng got bangs the summer before her first year of college. For her, it was time for a change.
“I got bangs because I was kind of bored of my hair at that moment,” Ng said. “It was a transition period for me from going to high school to college. I thought that maybe my hair would make me a new version of myself that I could meet a lot of new people with, and it gave me — weirdly enough — a blank slate. I also wanted bangs for at least a couple years at that point. I would get curtain bangs and cut those shorter. Then eventually, I was like, ‘you know what? I’m just going to go for it and get bangs.’”
Bangs are in no way a new phenomenon. After gaining popularity in the 1920s, bangs have been a consistent staple of style for years. Over the past century, the hairstyle has been reinvented in a number
of ways to keep up with other fashion trends of the time. In the 1960s, style icons such as Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot popularized the messy effortless fringe that is still adored today. And of course, the ‘80s were banging with bangs through the ultra-voluminous, feathered look chosen by celebrities such as Heather Locklear and Tina Turner. Few styles have so persistently stood the test of time while constantly adapting to current styles. So, it is no surprise that USD’s own students continue to favor the fringe and put their unique twist on the hairstyle.
Loren McLain, USD senior, got curtain bangs her junior year of high school. Last year, she decided to switch them to traditional bangs.
“I’ve always loved expressing myself through clothes and jewelry, so I wanted to accomplish that with my hair too,” McLain shared. “I’ve also always been inspired by Rachel Berry from ‘Glee,’ so I thought getting bangs would situate me closer to her.”
However, bangs are not always all fun and games.
The hairstyle is notoriously high-maintenance, which can be difficult for college students on the go. Ng shared the difficulties that she had to overcome regarding the upkeep of her bangs.
“For bangs, you have to keep in mind that usually the front part gets greasier more often, which means that even if the rest of your hair isn’t greasy, sometimes it can just
be the bangs,” Ng explained. “So, you have to wash them more often or spray them with dry shampoo. It’s definitely a little bit more of an upkeep.”
Despite the demanding maintenance, Ng enjoyed her time with bangs. She has since parted with the fashionable fringe, letting her hair return back to its natural state.
“When I had bangs, I liked them,” Ng shared. “I think a lot of the people around me also liked them. I didn’t really want to get rid of my bangs. My bangs just kind of went away because I didn’t get a haircut for a really long time. They just kind of phased out with me. My bangs had their time.”
USD sophomore Ella Cromer expressed that although she shares a similar sentiment, her bangs can be challenging to manage every day.
“It is such a pain to have bangs because even if you start off the day with them looking really nice, they can get so crummy at the end either from rain, if it’s humid outside, or [they’re] just not having a good day,” Cromer said.
Although they require lots of care, McLain still finds the hairstyle worth the trouble.
“I think bangs are worth the upkeep,” McLain said. “My routine usually consists of washing my hair and then blowing my bangs out for a few minutes. And when I’m not feeling bangs, it’s super easy to just clip them back.”
Whether short or long, layered or not, bangs are a
versatile option for a hairstyle that can stand the test of time. Ranging from the bumper bangs of the 40s to the ever-popular curtain fringe of the 2020s, bangs are clearly here to stay.
Actress and model, Jane Birkin, was a leading figure in the rise of bangs.
Photo courtesy of @janebirkindaily/Instagram
Singer and icon, Tina Turner, famously rocked the feathered bang look. Photo courtesy of @tinaturner/Instagram
The history of bangs goes beyond the twenty-first century.
Graphic by Alissa Abramovich / The USD Vista
women who raised reros
e to celebrate the people that ts of service to sentimental e how they show appreciation Mother’s Day coming up on to get inspiration from fellow oreros.
“When I’m back home, we usually go to brunch with my entire family But gift wise, it’s a big ol’ hug from me ” -Abby Dohoney (junior)
“My sisters and I always get my mom mugs with pictures of ourselves on them And she loves it My sister got my mom a mug of me flipping off the camera, and it said ‘Shut the actual f***k up ’ on it She uses it every day It’s her favorite mug ” -Jessica Bush (junior)
“I think people should base their gift based on people’s love languages. You should definitely know your mom by now and her love language So like for my mom, she likes acts of service I usually make her breakfast for Mother’s Day ” -Madeline Flores (junior)
Photo courtesy of @crowneplazautrecht/Instagram
Photo courtesy of @omceramic/Instagram
Photo courtesy of @mokamilkroma/Instagram
Spread by: Alissa Abramovich/The USD Vista: Content by Meher Dhaliwal/The USD Vista
OPINION
Back to the good old days
Tapping into childhood nostalgia will change your life
ALEX KUETER ASST. OPINION EDITOR
College is a really stressful time in young people’s lives. For many of us, we’re on our own for the first time. We need to cook all our own meals, do our own laundry, go to classes, maybe work a job and be the sole person responsible for our safety and well-being. Juggling these responsibilities can be enormously stressful for students, which is why the University invests in stress management options like TimelyCare, wellness programs and more.
While these options are great for significant stressful events, many students like myself struggle with daily stress from all of the little things around us. But there are alternative ways of handling these difficulties. One way to escape and manage these daily stresses lies in childhood activities.
Some of the small joys of my childhood included playing the Webkinz video game, watching the slightly creepy live action Barbie movies and reading Young Adult (YA) books like “Harry Potter” and “The Hunger Games.” I’ve recently found myself going back to these things as my stress has increased during college life and noticed that being able to sit down, relax and go back to childhood through these things has been a very grounding and helpful experience.
This idea isn’t new — many doctors and therapists believe that reconnecting to your inner child can help heal current and old traumas. In an article for the Cleveland Clinic, psychologist Susan Albers explains the benefits of reconnecting with your past self.
“Healing your inner child is about learning how to move forward, rediscovering what you need, recapturing what you’ve lost and reparenting your younger self so you can heal from past experiences,” Albers said.
There are numerous ways to heal your inner child, such as acknowledging your needs, returning to things you enjoyed as a child, journaling about your experiences and much more. This idea of connecting to your youth has proved to be a valuable idea for many people and is now recommended in several different types of therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Besides actual therapy, incorporating aspects of your childhood into your life can be beneficial in small ways to reduce stress.
I recently re-downloaded the video game Webkinz. It is a free desktop game that allows
you to take care of virtual pets you get online, and if you choose to, you can buy a stuffed animal to get additional pets inside the game. It’s a pretty simple program that has you play various mini-games to keep your pets healthy and happy.
Because it is a rather old game, Webkinz only has a few games or options to play for free. For me, this small amount of play is a really good stress break that I’ve been able to incorporate into my days. Unlike scrolling through social media, there is a finite number of tasks you can do, which reins in the lengths of study breaks by offering a natural stopping point. Scrolling for hours on end can be bad for our mental health, but a few minutes of more structured activity is much more beneficial for me during a break.
The nostalgia of playing a game I used to love every day has given me something to look forward to and also something to do in some of my down time. The game reminds me of youthful times without being too much of a distraction in my life now—
the perfect dose of nostalgia.
Another thing I recently revisited was the old live-action Barbie movies. These were a pillar of my childhood, and I always looked forward to my Friday movie nights where I’d watch and rewatch them.
While I forgot about these for a long time, rediscovering them recently has brought so much joy and entertainment to my life. While most have aged well, it is so fun to rewatch what I adored as a child because of how silly some shows and movies are. This peaceful entertainment doesn’t have a lot of hidden messages, calls for action or dramatic scenes. While these things are important to have in media, it’s nice to be able to take a break for a while and watch, for example, Barbie dance with her 11 sisters to unlock a magical world in the movies “Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses.”
The silliness of some of the plots offers many opportunities to laugh and helps soothe my soul from the depressing world around us. While the animation can be kind of rough,
turning my brain off for an hour or so is a nice break from everything else I have going on.
The last aspect of childhood that I have recently gone back to is reading YA books. These vary from timeless classics such as “Harry Potter,” to the newly revamped “Hunger Games” and the “Divergent” series, which is slightly less good on an almost fully developed prefrontal cortex. Many of these books are as amazing as ever, still capturing the magic of childhood and the world they were written in while taking the reader back into who they were when they first read it.
I’ll never forget reading “Harry Potter” for the first time in elementary school, dreaming about a Hogwarts acceptance letter of my own. Re-reading the books felt just as magical now as it did then.
Re-reading “Divergent” on the other hand, had me laughing at what I once thought was the coolest world imaginable. Though there are a few plot holes, it was nice to remember how enthralled my younger self was with these styles of writing and how much
they meant to me to experience.
“The Hunger Games” is taking off again with the release of a new movie and book, but rereading the original trilogy has been just as fun and engaging. These old books have brought me further in touch with who I was when I was younger and reconnected me with the things I loved. Many people see growing up and getting older as a loss or intentional moving on from childhood. While it is in some ways, you don’t just have to abandon the things that you used to love. In fact, revisiting many of your old hobbies can help return you to your childhood feelings of calm and wonder on especially hard days. Lately when I’ve been stressed, instead of working myself up, I’ll open Webkinz or the “Hunger Games” and relax that way. I highly recommend giving this a try. Find the aspects of your childhood that you miss or remember fondly, and go back to them. It is uniquely healing to reconnect yourself in this way and may be able to help you too.
Revisiting childhood entertainment can actually benefit your mental health.
Photo courtesy
SPORTS
Pickleball pandemonium
USD Club Pickleball’s pop heard around
USD
On most evenings near the USD Sports Center, the pop of plastic balls against paddles and the sound of laughter signal a growing campus trend: pickleball.
For some sophomores living in the Alcala Vista Apartments, those same sounds can be a source of frustration when they are trying to study or wind down and games keep going late into the night.
“I go to bed at 10 and they are playing til 11! Pop, pop, pop, 24/7,” USD sophomore Alexa Krieder said, describing the late-night noise that echoes just outside her apartment window.
For others, Club Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports on campus. What started as a casual idea between two firstyear students has quickly turned into an active community at USD.
The club was founded in spring 2022 by seniors Shannon Burns and Nina Pignatello, two friends who met during orientation and quickly bonded over their shared love of pickleball. Back then, USD didn’t have a club team, and they saw an opportunity.
“We realized there was no team yet, and we thought, ‘Why not start one?’” Burns recalled. “Once we had 15 people and approval from Campus Rec, we were good to go.”
Their first roster included mostly club tennis crossovers. Now, just two years later, the club sees over 60 players a semester, with practices held twice a week and tournaments that draw competitive and enthusiastic students from around campus.
Among those regulars are USD sophomore Roman Di Napoli and his doubles partner
USD junior Bella Hong, both club tennis players who’ve become inseparable on the pickleball court.
“Bella and I basically live on the champions court every Monday and Wednesday night,” Di Napoli said. “It’s kind of our thing.”
Their connection and commitment to the game have made them staple players in the club and helped earn them a shot at national competition.
Club Pickleball at USD includes both recreational and competitive components. While most members participate casually, the club has taken part in offcampus tournaments, including
events with San Diego State University. Earlier this year, the club qualified to send players to the National Collegiate Pickleball Championships in Las Vegas, where Di Napoli and USD sophomore Quinn Du Trey competed against teams from across the country.
“[Las Vegas is] my hometown, and it was the first time my parents ever saw me play,” Du Trey said. “It meant everything. The competition was intense, but the experience was unforgettable.”
For Di Napoli, the trip was as much about community as it was about competition. Traveling with his teammates, meeting players from across the country and bonding over a shared love for the sport made the
experience even more meaningful.
“We don’t get gassed. Ever,” Di Napoli laughed. “The lights were bright, but we showed up.”
Behind the scenes, the club’s growth and organization are overseen by USD junior Marcus Hopkins, who stepped into the role of general manager earlier this year. Since taking over, Hopkins has organized practices, coordinated events and helped the club maintain its welcoming and competitive atmosphere.
“It’s definitely a lot of responsibility, but it’s been amazing,” Hopkins said. “Everyone’s here because they love the game and want to have a good time.”
Hopkins, who can often be found playing on a San Diego court, has found a sense of community both on and off campus through the sport.
“Over winter break, I found a group of 20 strangers who met every day to play,” Hopkins said. “It turned into a real community. That’s what this sport does, it brings people together.”
Not all members join with competition in mind. USD senior Brianna Floyd decided to try out the club during her final semester at USD, looking for a new activity before graduation.
“I figured, this is my last chance,” Floyd said. “I had a total main character moment when I won my first game, even if it was on the lower courts.”
Now, Floyd plays on the top courts, where the rallies are fast, the stakes are high and the energy is infectious.
“It’s refreshing, energetic and totally welcoming,” Floyd added. “Even if I show up without a partner, I always find someone to play with. That’s the kind of group this is.”
The club includes a mix of players, some who take the game more seriously and others who approach it with a lighter attitude.
USD sophomore Jack Kiefer, who regularly attends practices, described his enthusiasm for the sport with a bit of humor. He laughs off mistakes, doesn’t mind poking fun at himself and is always ready for a good rally.
“Pickleball is my life,” Kiefer explained. “I live or die by the paddle.”
From around-the-post shots — called ATPs — to accidental home runs over the fence, chaos is always a possibility.
“Whenever someone hits an ATP, the whole court goes wild,” Burns said. “It doesn’t even go over the net — it goes around it. It’s awesome.”
Now in her final year, Burns said watching the club expand has been one of the more memorable aspects of her time at USD.
“I’ve had people say, ‘You’re the reason I came to USD,’” Burns recalled. “Knowing I helped build something that brings people together, that’s the legacy I want to leave behind.”
Club Pickleball is open to all students, regardless of experience. Practices are open, there are no tryouts and participation is flexible. The club offers a low-pressure way to stay active and connect with others.
