SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – For the first time in its 50-year history, Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) can now house students in on-campus housing. The new dorm was dedicated in a ceremony on Thursday, with many present who made the transformational step possible from concept to completion.
Hudson Conners, the student trustee on the LTCC Board is not only a residential advisor for the dorms, but one of its first residents. He spoke to those gathered to officially open the doors to the 32,000 square-foot, 100-bed facility, complete with a study corridor and nooks, a lounge, a large shared kitchen, bicycle, skateboard and scooter racks, housekeeping services, all overlooking the scenic Trout Creek and surrounding meadow.
The dorms are a game-changer with food services that empower students to meet goals while removing barriers, according to Conners and the other speakers.
“We stand at the threshold of a monumental occasion,” said Linda Vasquez, assistant vice chancellor for state and federal relations. “No longer do students have to worry about housing. This is more than just opening the front door.”
The dorm rooms are available to full-time, low-income, degree-seeking California residents. Double occupancy rooms are $500 per month, single occupancy $795 per month. All utilities, internet, and housekeeping charges are included. Students can purchase a ten-meal per week plan and eat two meals per day in the new dining hall, and use the dorm’s main kitchen for weekend meals. Each room also comes with a full-size refrigerator and microwave. Sidewalks are heated, giving students easy access to classrooms from the dorm without worrying about ice and snow. Student residents can live in the dorm year-round and do not have to leave during holidays and summer like other campuses.
The housing crisis is not just a community issue, but an education issue, said Vasquez. Many students cannot pursue higher education without affordable housing, and the 100 beds at LTCC are a start. The Basic Needs Initiative, created by Senate Bill 129 in the 2021-22 budget, gave money to campuses for a Basic Needs Center, which helped change the landscape for community colleges.
The completed project is not just opening doors to the residence hall, but opening doors to opportunity.
“This is a full circle moment,” said LTCC Superintendent and President Jeff DeFranco. It’s been 50 years since the doors opened at the first LTCC campus at the now-demolished motel. It has only been three years since funding was in place for the new dorm, and on June 29, 2025, the investment became reality when construction was complete.
DeFranco said they were ushering in affordable housing for students up and down the state. LTCC was the first community college to cross the finish line of getting a dorm open through the state’s new funding.
Voters approved the $55M bond Measure F in 2014, which has since updated the campus and its infrastructure and started the ball rolling for the dorm construction.
He highlighted the power of partnerships in completing the dorm and thanked the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the City of South Lake Tahoe, Governor Gavin Newsom, the California State Legislature, Division of the State Architect, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, and the project building team of Creekside, JK Architecture, and Cumming Group.
A new piece of art has been installed outside the dorm. “Rushmore” was created by the artists Mr and Mrs Ferguson and is a sculpture made entirely of U.S. coins with a face value of $5,424.50. It features North American land predators in the place of the presidents from the original Mount Rushmore. This large-scale community project was displayed at Burning Man in 2024.
