As an example, there was a googler famously living out of a moving truck, because he wanted a short commute and couldn't live right next to the campus in MTV. That was his choice, I don't think anyone would argue google doesn't pay people enough to afford rent.
If you can save $1000/month in rent by adding 200 hours of commute, why is that OK? And once you add in the extra thousands of miles of car travel, and having to pay for a car rather than being able to bike or take a bus, and it doesn't actually save any money...
Here are the estimated costs of living for various campuses, by three different methodologies:
https://twitter.com/weinberz/status/1596299620266962944?s=46...
The highest cost of living is where there's no escape to cheap housing by adding long commutes.
The people running these towns with high cost of living could add plenty of more housing, enough to reduce the cost of living, but have been spoiled brats about it. The level of entitlement among homeowners about not even seeing an apartment is absolutely astounding.
I would be surprised if it is more than a rounding error, but open to being shocked.
[0] https://oshi-la.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/cts-state-of-...
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4014
Homelessness is far higher than a rounding error, it's 5% of UC students, 10% of CSU students, and 20% of community college students.
I live in a town with a UC campus, and come across packs of students living in their cars. They do everything they can to have minimal impact and hide from view. It makes me terribly sad, and shocked every time I see it.
A 2017 study found:
- 5% of UC Graduate students had experienced homelessness.
- 26% of UC Graduate students had experienced food insecurity.
