Residential Learning Community and Specialized Housing

We look forward to helping you create your new home at CSUSM! As you consider the options within CSUSM Housing, we invite you to consider our Residential Learning Communities (RLC) or specialized housing communities. 

Residential Learning Communities

• The San Marcos Experience (SME) is located in the North Commons community.  This community designed to help ease the transition to college by placing students into a living and learning cohort that promotes leadership development and civic engagement both inside and outside the classroom.
• The CSTEM Residential Learning Community (CSTEM-RLC) is located in the North Commons community. This community is tailor made for students pursuing studies in the sciences, technology, engineering, and math. The community is designed to increase students’ success through living and learning together, taking linked courses to facilitate a successful transition to CSUSM, and meeting key academic requirements.    

Benefits of participating in an RLC:

Through participation in an RLC, students are supported through their first year at CSUSM while taking courses and living together as members of a community on designated floors. RLC students take up to 3 classes together. Additionally, RLC students participate in specialized programming and events focused on their unique community needs and interest.

You can be a part of a community of leaders with whom you will develop important transferable skills and build life-long relationships. Students who engage actively in an RLC program have proven to have higher GPAs and graduation rates, as well as having a pathway to leadership opportunities across campus.

Requirements:

• First Year Students Only
• Students must be provisionally admitted to CSUSM for Fall 2025 and have paid the enrollment deposit.
• Apply to CSUSM Housing for the North Commons for 2025-2026 academic year.
• For CSTEM RLC only: Student must be in a STEM major. 
• Not in another specialty program (TRIO/SSS, Athletics, CAMP). Each specialty program requires participants to enroll in certain mandatory courses; if two specialty program’s required courses conflict with each other, a student will only have the ability to participate one of the programs. 

Questions about the Residential Learning Communities? Please mail Resident Director, Paola Romo at promo@csusm.edu

Specialized Housing Communities

Our specialized housing communities are open to any resident and offer individualized support and deeper community building opportunities. These options exist at each of our communities (University Village Apartments, The QUAD, or North Commons).

• Substance Free Living - Students who select Substance Free Living make a commitment to not use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.    
• Gender Inclusive - This community is inclusive of all genders, gender identities, and gender expressions and is committed to promoting a welcoming, safe, and inclusive living environment. Gender Inclusive Housing allows students to choose roommates and share bedrooms, suites, or apartments without restrictions based on gender or sex.   
• LGBTQ+ - This community creates a safe place for identity exploration and community building for LGBTQ+ identifying people and their allies. The community supports growth in understanding issues faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community and developing the necessary skills to act as advocates and/or allies of the community.

If interested in taking advantage of these communities, please notate on your housing application and we will follow up with you. The ability to offer Specialized Housing Communities are dependent on the amount of interest expressed on housing applications.