For my first year and part of my second year I lived in a studio, which was actually just a house that the owner subdivided into units,...

Many of my immediate problems would be solved with having an income that’s relative to the high cost of living in Santa Barbara.

When I got accepted to UCSB and started looking at the cost of rentals in Goleta and Santa Barbara, I was completely shocked.

...I have quickly learned that graduate students are homogenized and invisibilized in ways that I would never have anticipated.

Even with my partner’s income, our family cannot afford to live in Santa Barbara.

This cycle repeats every single year no matter how many extra jobs we take on or the fellowships and funding we receive from the department.

I whittled through my meagre savings trying to stay in the last home my partner and I shared in a little over a year.

I have friends who are considering leaving graduate school. I have friends who would have to leave the country if they withdraw from classes

Last year I had to work two other part-time jobs aside from TA-ing to cover the cost of living in SB, which amounts to roughly $2300...

I just want to be able to afford to be one who can eat, sleep, teach, and research, which are all why I am here in the first place.

I would get a second job if it was logistically possible, but I put well over 30 hours per week in my TAship alone.

We applied for family housing. Administrators informed us that we would not get a place until near the baby’s due date...

"When there's an emergency, I work from the bottom of the list up to cut expenses."

I live in subsidized university housing, and my rent burden would be 67% if I did not take on two additional jobs outside of TAing.

Last year I started taking this important medication only half as often as prescribed, just so we could make ends meet. Over the summer, I s

Given that I am already rent burdened in subsidized housing, I cannot imagine how this number will look like when I enter the Santa Barbara

If I have to move out of graduate housing (which guarantees housing for two years), my rent burden will increase to at least 60%.

I knew I would have to adjust to a higher cost of living out here than I was used to back home, but it has been a difficult adjustment.