Rachel Carson College

Rachel Carson College is one of ten residential colleges that make up one of the defining experiences for students at UC Santa Cruz: the residential college system. It is part of the Rachel Carson-Oakes neighborhood on campus. It was originally founded as College 8 in 1972.

PARKING INFORMATION
Visitors to UCSC may purchase a daily permit at the Main Entrance Kiosk (M-7) or the TAPS Sales Office (L-7). They may also utilize ParkMobile in designated hourly/daily parking spaces. The closest parking lot to this location is Rachel Carson College (146).

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Aerial view of Rachel Carson College
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🌳 Rachel Carson College

Rachel Carson's theme, Environment and Society, embodies the college’s concern for environmental issues within a social, political, scientific, and humanistic context. Rachel Carson College has funding for student projects, academic and research programs, and a long history of commitment to environmentalism. The college has themed housing for Women in Science, Engineering & Math, as well as African, Black & Caribbean (ABC) Themed Housing. In addition, it is home to the Redwood Free Market - a choice-based no limits pantry for students to take what they need.

🏠 Housing & The Residential Colleges

One of the defining experiences for students at UC Santa Cruz is our residential college system. Year-after-year, our alumni identify their residential college experience and student group involvement as central to their core identities and connection to campus. The people you will live with in these communities, the shared experiences, your growth academically and personally, are all fostered by the close-knit, home-away-from-home structure our residential colleges provide.

These ten communities, each with their own academic themes, architecture, activities, location, and support resources, provide a neighborhood for your lived campus experience. By design, our residential colleges are not connected to any specific major. This provides a wonderful opportunity to interact, live, and learn alongside fellow banana slugs from different backgrounds, countries, and experiences.

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