Photo courtesy of Bernard Spragg via Flickr
I’m a college student in San Francisco. To afford to live here, I share a two bedroom apartment with five other girls. I ask myself daily, is living in this town worth the cost of my privacy?
After growing up in Southern California, I was ready for a change. So when I got the opportunity to move to San Francisco for college, I was thrilled.
I knew that living in the Bay Area would be costly, but I still didn’t anticipate how it would put my health and happiness on the line.
Housing has become one of my biggest stressors. I barely have enough room in my apartment to lie down. I can’t have guests without knocking stuff over. I don’t have a private place to go when I’m stressed. I can’t focus. My hope is by living like this, I can avoid financial problems down the line. But I don’t think it’s right I have to choose.
I still have two more years of college, which means, two years of putting up with these conditions…and it’s not fair. Students like me should be able to focus on graduating — not worrying about rent.