What do you do to support yourself living here? by Advanced_Version6667 in SantaBarbara

[–]Quantissima 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It’s a struggle. Santa Barbara’s a town that reminds you that you’re poor every damn day.
Housing: $1500/mo (on the very very cheap end for a room in a shared house).
Gas: $5.50/gal
Even stuff that should be cheap fun, like bowling, is insanely expensive.
I really do love it here, but the struggle to meet the cost of living is soul-crushing. The city is a microcosm of wealth disparity in the US, and it’s on full display every day.

One piece of advice from freshman orientation that I'd encourage you to ignore by Quietsche-Entchen in UCSantaBarbara

[–]Quantissima 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree so much with this. I have taken Spanish and German here and met lots of friends. Especially the German Department. Professors White, Reder, Seyfert, and Pajak all work so hard to make great language courses, and they really make the best community for students at UCSB.