Sergi91 Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 A Los Angeles graduate student is going viral for how he avoided paying Bay Area rent while attending the University of California, Berkeley. In a now-viral Reddit post, user “greateranglia” wrote a post titled, “I survived living in LA and commuting to Cal by plane over the past academic year to save on rent, AMA.” Bill says he was living in Los Angeles with a rent he could afford when he got accepted into a one-year Master of Engineering program at Cal. Knowing he would return to Los Angeles after graduation, he wanted to avoid having to pay rent in the Bay Area. On a typical day, he would wake up at 3:30 am and head to the airport for a 6:00 am flight from LAX to SFO. Then, he would take the 8:30 am BART to get to Berkeley. Class started at 10:00 am. After a full day of classes, he would do the commute in reverse and get back home to L.A. around midnight. He spent a total of $5,592.66 on his commute between LAX and SFO during his one-year program. Source
Jaye Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 I mean the flight is only like 30 minutes or so and definitely cheaper at that point so good for him.
Sergi91 Posted June 30, 2023 Author Posted June 30, 2023 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Jaye said: I mean the flight is only like 30 minutes or so and definitely cheaper at that point so good for him. The flights are on average 1:30mnts Edited June 30, 2023 by Sergi91
Margaux Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 (edited) um what so he prepares and commute to school for about 8 hrs, that is so exhausting Edited June 30, 2023 by Margaux
Rebel Lion Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 Mess. That means by the time there will be flying cars then rent will skyrocket if this will be the new norm.
Orsay Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 the Bay Area is not that much more expensive than LA for this to make sense. They're the two priciest metro areas in the country besides maybe NYC. this sounds like something a super rich person would do and try to BS and write it off as "economical" 4
Airhead Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 I know he did not do this every day, maybe he had classes 2 or 3 days a week. Either way it seem so exhausting.
Big Bad Wolf Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 Okay and what would you like me to do about that
ATRL Moderator Bloo Posted June 30, 2023 ATRL Moderator Posted June 30, 2023 Why is he commuting from LA to save money? That city is also insanely expensive.
onapearl Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 I understand commuting to save on housing costs, but I don't understand how commuting from LA to the Bay Area by plane is cost effective. LA's rent isn't that much cheaper and the plane tickets are going to eat up the difference. Regardless, America needs better train service. Trains are a lot more environmentally friendly than commuting by car and especially by plane. All I can think of is the unnecessary carbon emissions from doing this.
Bhabylon Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 He says that while living in LA like it’s supposed to be impressive okay what do you want, a Scooby snack? 1
Jotham Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 I lived in Berkeley before and the housing market there is horrendous, but I don't see how he can afford to live in LA and not in Berkeley. I looked at the original Reddit post and he comes off very irresponsible, not understanding how impractical this is nor how bad this is for the environment.
Likingstars Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 Housing in the Bay Area, especially if you drive a bit out from Berkeley, is not that worse compared to LA
Timber Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 So he was "saving" money cuz he gets to live at home for free. Realistically tho his parents could've rented his room or moved to a smaller home.
SweetTalker Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 “On a typical day, he would wake up at 3:30 am…. and get back home to L.A. around midnight.“ girl
TiaTamera Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 I mean, I’m unsure of how much more his rent would have been if moved to the Bay, plus he said he got a good rate in LA, so who knows if he would have gotten the same place for the same place in a years time. If the rent changes were more than $500 a month, which seems plausible, then he saved money.
Rep2000 Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 1 hour ago, Jotham said: I lived in Berkeley before and the housing market there is horrendous, but I don't see how he can afford to live in LA and not in Berkeley. I looked at the original Reddit post and he comes off very irresponsible, not understanding how impractical this is nor how bad this is for the environment. Feel like it's a rage bait content. I can see him do it once in a while. But a whole year? No.
harwee Posted June 30, 2023 Posted June 30, 2023 (edited) Quote Of that, $671.29 was spent on BART, $520.00 on parking, $1,948.27 on gas, $39.96 on inflight WiFi, $1,552.10 on Alaska flights, 407,500 Alaska miles, $758.24 on Southwest flights, 156,945 Southwest points, $71.30 on United flights, 5,500 United miles, $15.60 on Avianca flights, 6,500 Avianca miles, $15.90 on Spirit flights. He took a total of 238 flights and flew 92,089 miles. The engineer in Bill led him to solve the number of minutes spent on his commute: 75,955. The math doesn't seem to be mathing on that cost breakdown. Edited June 30, 2023 by harwee
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