The plan was a success, inspiring members to work all summer to raise capital to keep their co-op alive. In the Fall of '33 the students leased the original Barrington Hall housing 48 students (a new Barrington Hall housing 200 men opened in '35), and in the summer of '34 the students leased a second house which they named Sheridan Hall. The members of the two houses incorporated that year as the University of California Students' Cooperative Association (UCSCA). In it's second year, the co-op also hired its first non-student general manager.

Despite a financial crisis in the summer of '34, which nearly foreclosed the co-op, the students managed to organize their books and in '36 leased Stebbins Hall, it's first women's co-op, and in '38 leased the Sherman Hall, opened in 1942. The co-op also decided to rent Barrington Hall, which was in desperate need of repairs, to the U.S. Navy. Despite some protest from membership, the Navy moved in in '43 and stayed until '48, renovating the building and making it fire safe. The War also brought on the U.S. policy of placing citizens of Japanese ancestry in internment camps. The Japanese Students' Club, located on Euclid, could no longer pay rent on its building. The UCSCA, therefore, ran it as Lexington Hall from 1943-48, until it was returned to the Japanese students. The co-op eventually bought this house in 1968 and named it Euclid Hall.

In 1943, because of the shortage of men, Sheridan Hall closed, but in '45 the co-op prepared for the inevitable influx of GIs by purchasing Ridge House. In 1946, the co-op bought Cloyne Court, which at the time housed faculty. No one was evicted as the co-op took-over, creating interesting dynamics between co-opers and the older, professorial clientele.

The Post-War conservatism on campus and around the country led to some controversies, such as a state law prohibiting the use of the title "University of California" in the name of any private organization - thus the UCSCA became the USCA. The USCA was also compelled to sign a "loyalty oath" to the U.S. Government, just after purchasing its second women's residence, Hoyt Hall, in 1953.

American pride continued in 1958 when Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at the USCA 25th anniversary celebration. The co-op continued to expand with the purchase of Kidd Hall and one of the Northside Apartment buildings in 1960. The second Northside building was purchased in 1964.

The changing times of the '60s were evident when the USCA opened the first co-ed living situation on campus in 1966 known as the Ridge Project (renamed Casa Zimbabwe in 1987). The Ridge Project, funded largely by money donated by members, alumni, UC faculty, the Cowell Foundation, and cooperative organizations and individuals, provided the USCA with a badly needed warehouse, Central Kitchen and office space, as well as housing for 128 students.

The '60s and '70s also brought a decline of the Greek system, and the co-op was able to obtain three former sororities at a reasonable price: Davis House in 1969; Andres Castro Arms in 1971; and Wolf House in 1974. Plans also began for the Rochdale Village Apartments, which opened in 1971, housing 262 students. Rochdale was built on University-owned land and financed by a low-interest loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Harry Kingman and the co-op had lobbied in Congress years earlier to make this sort of loan available for student co-ops.

In 1975, the USCA opened its first all-vegetarian house, Lothlorien. Oxford Hall closed after the spring of 1977, having long been below city safety and earthquake codes. That fall, two new houses opened: Kingman Hall, former home of the Berkeley Living Love Center; and Le Chateau, a privately-owned "residence club" which featured the Co-op's first swimming pool.

In the winter of 1981, Fenwick Weaver's Village opened next to Rochdale. The decision to build it had been ratified by a co-op referendum in 1979, and it was financed by another HUD loan.

The USCA membership passed another referendum in 1989, this time to close the troubled Barrington Hall, due to the enormous liability problems that the co-op had developed. The size of the membership dropped with its closure until 1992, when the University contacted the USCA about leasing an old convent that the school had recently acquired. After considerable debate, the Board of Directors decided to rent Convent as a graduate/re-entry student co-op. The African-American Theme House opened in Fall 1997. The USCA acquired this house from the University when they closed it as the Slavic Languages House. The theme of this house was in response to the decision of the University of California to close all of their theme houses, including their African American themed house. Our latest acquisition, the Oscar Wilde House, a lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgendered theme house, opened in Spring of 1999. Again, the theme was selected for this house in recognition of the need for a place the queer community can call their own.

Currently, the USCA's membership stands at almost 1300 people. The USCA remains committed to providing low-cost housing to students in the Bay Area, relieving the burden of the high cost of education. Whatever direction the future of our organization takes, it will continue to be determined as it has throughout the co-op's history - by student members who have built it: those members who own it and who run it.