Parking
Please allow some time before beginning your tour to purchase a parking permit at the TAPS Sales Office at the base of campus and secure parking. If you are taking a tour on a weekend, you do not need to pay for parking in Parking Lot 101.
We recommend purchasing a temporary one-day permit from the TAPS Sales Office and then proceed to parking in Parking Lot 101. If you have purchased a one-day parking permit, you may park in any of the unmarked spots in this lot.
If you are going to pay hourly with ParkMobile, look for the signs toward the rear of the lot on your right. Parking is limited to three hours.
If parking spots in Lot 101 are filled, your next best option is to park at East Campus Athletics & Recreation Lot 103A. After that, your best option is Arts Lot 126.
A valid UCSC permit or ParkMobile payment is required to park in all parking spaces on campus. See all options for Visitor Parking HERE.
Please observe posted signage to avoid receiving a citation. Failure to adhere to signage or pay ParkMobile fees in a designated area or space will result in a citation ($75-$100 fine as of March 2025).
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: You may use Santa Cruz Metro Routes 15, 16, 18, 19, or 20 to reach our campus. Depart at the Cowell/Bookstore bus stop and follow Hahn Road to the Hahn Student Services Building.
Campus Overview
One of the 10 campuses of the esteemed University of California system, UC Santa Cruz is the closest UC to Silicon Valley, nestled in a redwood forest with beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. At UC Santa Cruz, we are a community that values social justice and environmental stewardship, where students benefit from a combination of tier one research, an interdisciplinary approach to learning, and our distinctive residential college system.
Our campus was founded in 1965 on 2,000 acres of forest and meadows. Of this land, only about 30% has been developed, which means the majority of our campus houses natural wildlife, such as deer, wild turkeys, and of course, the banana slug, our official mascot.
More Info! UCSC by the Numbers - Campus Statistics, UCSC Overview, Mascot History
Quarry Plaza
Quarry Plaza serves as our campus hub. Here you will find services such as the Bay Tree Campus Store, some of the Community and Resource Centers, and support for student government and groups on campus. In fact, we have over 200 student groups, including a cappella singing, video gaming, adventure clubs, and religious groups. This location is also home to our Quarry Amphitheater, a 2,600-seat, natural outdoor space that is a beautiful venue for live concerts and gatherings. The plaza houses the popular Café Iveta and the Slug Stop for your small grocery needs. Quarry Plaza is a good place for tabling, meeting up with friends, shopping at the produce pop-up, and stocking up on school supplies and Banana Slug gear.
More Info! Community & Resource Centers, Bay Tree Campus Store, Student Organizations, Café Iveta
Residential Colleges (Housing)
Our campus is home to 10 different residential colleges, where students can find a home away from home at UC Santa Cruz. Founded in 1965, Cowell College was the first residential college to be built at UC Santa Cruz and overlooks the Pacific Ocean, with nearby amenities such as the gym, libraries, pool, and track. Each residential college has dormitories (called “residence halls” at UC Santa Cruz) and student apartments, and each has its own unique theme, architecture, advisers, and events! Students will choose which college they are affiliated with based on these qualities. The colleges are not major-specific.
Students get one year of guaranteed campus housing their first year, with the option to select their room type and floor theme. Students are then eligible to apply for our on-campus apartments, which include a living room, dining room, and kitchen. Alternative housing options include Family Student Housing, the University Town Center apartments downtown, the Redwood Grove apartments on the west side of campus, and the Village on the east side of campus. For off-campus housing assistance, our Community Rentals Office offers rental listings and support for finding off-campus housing.
More Info! Residential Colleges, On Campus Housing Communities, Community Rentals Office
East Field (Athletics & Recreation)
UCSC is an NCAA Division III school with men's and women's sports teams, club sports, and intramural sports. We also offer a wide range of recreational opportunities, such as kayaking and camping. Overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean are our Athletics & Recreation facilities. We have an Olympic-size swimming pool, basketball courts, volleyball courts, tennis courts, a half-mile track, and a gym, which are all free for students. We also have Adventure Recreation, an outdoor program, allowing students to experience activities beyond UC Santa Cruz, with the chance to rent outdoor equipment.
More Info! Athletics and Recreation
Cowell/Stevenson Dining Hall
This is one of our five dining hall locations across campus. Situated on the hill above the East Field, the Cowell/Stevenson dining hall features a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean, with outdoor patio dining available to capture the crisp ocean breezes. Our dining halls always offer a variety of hot meals, a vegan/vegetarian option, a salad, a sandwich, and pizza bar, and of course, a soft-serve ice cream machine. Students can use their residential meal plans to enter the dining halls and make purchases at our cafés and markets, such as the Stevenson Coffee House and Slug Stop.
Our Center for Agroecology operates a 30-acre farm on campus, which provides produce for our dining halls and basic needs resources, including Cowell Coffee Shop, the Redwood Free Market, and the Produce Pop-Up - our very own on-campus farmer’s market.
More Info! Locations and Hours, Menus, Basic Needs Dining
Humanities (Academics)
The Humanities Division houses some of UCSC’s most celebrated and innovative departments and programs, including Feminist Studies, Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, Literature, and Linguistics. With 74 majors and 43 minors across our five academic divisions, there are a wide variety of pathways that students can take to further their knowledge. Those 5 academic divisions include Arts, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, and Social Sciences, plus our professional school, the Jack Baskin School of Engineering.
UC Santa Cruz is committed to interdisciplinary study. Students regularly work collaboratively on projects in partnership with students and faculty across different divisions.
Our academic year operates on the quarter system. There are three quarters in the academic school year, and one optional summer quarter. Each quarter is ten weeks of instruction, and students will typically take three courses per quarter, for a total of 15 credits.
More Info! Undergraduate Programs, Course Catalog and Degree Requirements
UCSC Tour Guide Sage introduces the Humanities area
Health Center
UC Santa Cruz has a variety of services to support the health and wellness of the campus community. Our Student Health Center offers in-person appointments for Same-Day Care, Labs and Radiology, Immunizations, and Dental, with an on-campus pharmacy. Within our Health Center, other resources are offered to students such as Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS); Student Health Outreach and Promotion (SHOP), and the Center for Advocacy Resources and Empowerment (CARE), just to name a few.
Students are required to have a health insurance plan. UC SHIP is a UCSC healthcare option that can be waived if students want to use their own insurance. CruzCare is another option, which allows pre-paid access to the Health Center.
More Info! Student Health Center, UCSC Insurance
In Front of Science Hill Bridge (Transportation)
Students use all sorts of modes of transportation to get around and stay connected on our large, scenic campus. The campus includes bridges, hiking trails, and lit pathways that connect each corner of the campus and allow students to travel to classes, their dorms, and wherever they need to go. Scooters, e-scooters, bikes, and e-bikes (such as our BCycle bikes) are popular choices for students to get around. UC Santa Cruz operates buses that loop around the campus roads all day long, which students often use to get to class. These are free to everyone on campus, so feel free to hop on! The campus is also serviced by four different Santa Cruz Metro bus lines, which loop around campus and continue into the city of Santa Cruz, with destinations such as the Boardwalk amusement park, the Capitola Mall, and downtown Santa Cruz, also free for our students
Here at UC Santa Cruz we prefer trees to parking lots, so parking permits are reserved for students at junior standing and above. For students without a car, we have ZipCars stationed all over campus.
More Info! Carpooling Options, Parking, Santa Cruz Metro
Interdisciplinary Sciences Building Courtyard (Safety)
At UC Santa Cruz, we take safety seriously. We have 42 blue light phones on campus that connect directly to our on-site police and fire stations, with an average response time of three minutes. Additionally, while all of our pathways remain well-lit at night, if you want company getting around campus after 7 p.m., our Safe Ride service acts as an on-campus Uber, and our RCSPs (Residential Community Service Partners) patrol the residential areas to help with any safety concerns. Cruz Alert is our campus-wide notification system for updates and emergencies. Campus safety is enhanced by resources such as 24-hour hotlines, trained security personnel, and electronically operated dorm entrances.
More Info! Police Department, Self Defense Classes, Risk and Safety Services
Lawn outside Center for Adaptive Optics (Research)
UCSC is a tier 1 research institution, which means we provide exceptional research opportunities in all of our departments. Over 75% of our undergraduate students participate in a research project, internship, creative project, or service learning, many of them by their first or second year. We offer a diverse range of opportunities, from caring for sea otters affected by marine pollution at our Coastal Science Campus, to exploring the potential of documentary and nonfiction film in the Digital Arts Research Center, to our world-famous Human Genome Project. Students can use the platform Handshake to find both unpaid and paid internships and research positions. And our Career Success office offers a wide range of career, internship, and employment services, such as frequent job fairs.
More Info! Coastal Science Campus Projects, Arts Research Projects, Humanities Institute, Jack Baskin School of Engineering Research Labs
McHenry (Libraries)
UCSC has 12 libraries, two large ones and 10 smaller ones (one for each residential college). Between our two main libraries, McHenry Library and the Science and Engineering Library, we have 1.5 million books on campus. Our libraries offer services for students such as private study rooms, laptop and tablet rentals, media equipment rentals, 3D printers, and much more.
Located within the McHenry library is the Global Village Café, a perfect place to buy grab-and-go items and have a meal during study sessions. The library also houses our Special Collections and Archives, which preserve pieces of our campus’s history and the local Bay Area. Most notably, our Special Collections holds the only Grateful Dead archive in the world!
More Info! University Library, McHenry Library, Science & Engineering Library, Digital Scholarship Commons
Hahn Student Services
UCSC offers many programs and services dedicated to ensuring the academic success of our students. Within Hahn Student Services is our Admissions Office, Financial Aid Office, and Registrar's Office, to name a few. Our Educational Opportunity Programs (EOP) provide support to first-generation college students, low-income students, and students from historically marginalized backgrounds. Learning Support Services (LSS) offers free tutoring in both large and small group formats. And our Career Success office offers a wide range of career, internship, and employment services, such as frequent job fairs.
More Info! EOP, LSS, Global Learning, Career Success