 The University of California , Santa Cruz ( also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC ) , is a public research university and one of 10 campuses in the University of California system . Located 75 miles ( 120 km ) south of San Francisco at the edge of the coastal community of Santa Cruz , the campus lies on 2 @,@ 001 acres ( 810 ha ) of rolling , forested hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay . 
