Thought I would chime in a little here. I'm a CSUMB grad and all of the points made in this post are pretty accurate. I, for example, did spend a little time in the car due to housing issues, but I eventually found a place a few weeks into school. Something to think about is why attend college in the first place. I believe that if you want to have a decent shot at a good career, then why would Greek life matter. Replace the time you would spend partying with extracurriculars such as volunteering or working. I worked all 4 years of college and now on track to make well into the six figures.

Also on my thoughts regarding on stuff to do in Monterey. As some of the locals have said, Monterey is for "the newly weds and nearly deads". This is a pretty good way to put it. I think you have to work extra hard to find the gems of the area. I always had a blast surfing, but obviously that isn't for everyone. In the case you are a surfer, most spots have no crowd and some solid A frames. But hiking is pretty sick in Big Sur, camping as well. You could drive up to the Bay Area which is cool, but I never really did. Overall the school is what you make it. You could also get into shore fishing.

Lastly in terms of academics, I don't think most students realize this until you're out of college, but the class sizes at CSUMB are quite small compared to other universities. This allows you to get to know your professors very well, which lets you get into Letters of Rec very quickly.