The cost of living on or off San José State’s campus has been a struggle for some students.
Computer science graduate Rahul Kandekar said finding a place to live was a difficult process because the options he found on Zillow, a real estate website, were either terrible or overly extravagant.
“Finding a place to stay is like mining for a diamond,” Kandekar said.
The average San José resident pays $3,248 a month for bills, including rent payments, car loans and utilities, according to an Oct. 22 San José Spotlight article.
Kristen Weaver, SJSU Cares’ interim student affairs case manager, said living in San José is very expensive.
She said SJSU Cares supports students who experience unforeseen circumstances and distress that may affect their living situation.
“There is definitely a lot of need for students relating to inventory, meaning availability of housing, and it’s also hard to find spaces where they know it's going to be safe and. . . continue to afford it,” Weaver said.
Weaver said students need to fill out a “request for assistance” form and then meet with a case manager to discuss their situation.
She said case managers direct students to resources like housing assistance, paying for parking and utilizing campus resources.
“It's not just a band-aid, but rather ongoing support to stabilize their situation in order to help them continue their education,” Weaver said. “We have bigger dreams and that’s not to downplay the importance of financial aid when you get it, but there's a lot more that can go into that.”
Weaver said a majority of students come in for financial relief and do not know the extended benefits SJSU Cares has to offer.
She said SJSU Cares can also connect students to legal services, a temporary meal plan and SJSU’s Counseling And Psychological Services (CAPS).
“A lot of people come in with the mindset that they just have to figure it out on their own, that they just have to do everything by themselves,” Weaver said. “So in some cases when students learn the depth of support that they can receive. . . they can be really surprised.”
Kandekar said he has the financial support of his parents to help with housing expenses.
However, he said he is looking to find an internship to be more self-sufficient.
“San José and other California cities are expensive because the cities make it illegal to build housing almost everywhere it would be viable,” business professor Robert Wood said.
San José is experiencing a housing shortage because of the listing rates for new homes, amount of people moving in and out of the city and change in housing prices, according to a Sept. 13, 2022 San José Spotlight article.
San José’s home listing rates declined because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the same article.
Software engineering graduate student Rishabh Kulkarni said he lives in a two-bedroom apartment with five other people and said rent is split between him and his housemates.
He said he recently moved to San José from India and was surprised by the cost of living.
“It’s OK,” Kulkarni said. “It’s manageable. . . (but), the quality of the apartment that we get could be slightly higher.”
Kandekar said while he was looking for a home, he saw a listing that advertised a three-bedroom apartment. However, he also said he found out that the third bedroom was the living room upon touring the property.
He said this experience sketched him out and that his standards weren’t beyond reason.
“Me and my two other friends, we were looking for a place,” Kandekar said. “We just wanted three clean rooms that won’t get mold and a kitchen.”
