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, for $1,100/ month, or 55% of my monthly stipend (or more, considering the lease was for 12 months and the stipend covers the academic year). Although I was able to get into student housing for the next couple years, I worry if I will be able to find any kind of reasonable housing if I cannot get student housing in the coming years. Additionally, at the end of my first year I was diagnosed with cancer, which required the entire summer spent on various tests. I ended up taking medical leave winter of my second year to do chemotherapy, but, frustratingly and paradoxically, since I was not TAing my family and I had to pay for the insurance premium as well as the co-pays. Even with the insurance co-payments, we quickly maxed out the $7,000 out-of-pocket maximum.
Additionally, at the end of my first year I was diagnosed with cancer, which required the entire summer spent on various tests.
All of this being said, COLA is most important to me because I know how incredibly privileged I have been for any number of reasons, not least of which that my family could help pay $7,000 for treatment without themselves going broke--but I am well aware that the vast majority of my grad student colleagues and friends do not have such privileges. No graduate student at UCSB should have to worry about the financial burden of life-saving medical treatment.
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