As rental prices in the Phoenix metro have skyrocketed, some of Arizona State University’s best and brightest find themselves barely able to get by.
Garima Jain is an international student from India, working on her PhD at the School of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning. Jain sometimes uses ASU’s student-run “Pitchfork” pantry to make ends meet, as well as to withdraw money from his savings account.
She received a stipend for her studies from college, but due to her F-1 visa status, she is unable to take a job outside of school and must live on her stipend alone for the entire year. school. Jain said this problem is common for international students, including many of his peers.
“Many of us have paid at least around 60-70% (of our allowance) on average for rent – it’s only the remaining 30% that we use for all other expenses. And as a rule of thumb, there’s a standard that says (you should pay) 30% of your income for rent,” Jain said. “We pay double that as graduate students.”
The rule Jain is referring to is widely accepted as the norm by the federal government and means that someone earning $2,800 a month before taxes would have to spend about $840 a month on rent.
But students who receive graduate scholarships at the School of Geographic Sciences and Urban Planning earn less than that amount and pay significantly more for rent in Tempe.
Jain tweeted a screenshot of an internet search in which she was looking for accommodation in Tempe for $1,300 or less per month and had few options.
“Search results for rental housing for $1,300/month only show TWO studio/1 bedroom options at…Tempe AZ! That’s about 75% of the average grad student stipend at #ASU – the largest landowner and employer in the area. How fair and how does it not start a fire?!” said Tweet of March 29 from Jain.
Real estate company Zillow found that in 2021, foreclosure on a one-year lease in the Phoenix metro area cost $4,644 more at the end of the year than at the start of the year, or an increase of more than 25%.
“Let’s say I choose to renew my lease this year, it will increase even more. I’m not sure it’s still affordable at all,” Jain said. “It’s already very unaffordable.”
The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Tempe in May was $1,350, according to national researcher Apartment List. That’s an increase of 18% last year and 0.8% since April.
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The university is aware of the problem of rising rents, according to Stephanie Salazar, executive director of housing and off-campus relations.
Salazar suggests students visit virtual or in-person housing fairs to find housing managers and leasing agents for off-campus housing. Home shows are held every fall and spring.
“Off-Campus Relations also works with apartment communities in Tempe, Phoenix and surrounding communities to help students find housing resources,” Salazar said in an emailed statement to the Arizona Republic. .
ASU currently has 14,680 students living in on-campus housing across its four campuses, including 291 graduate students, according to Salazar.
“I read about housing costs before I moved to Arizona, and I expected a good one-bedroom apartment to cost around $800. And so, that’s what I expected find here when I came, but as you know we can’t find anything (for this price),” said Natalia Arruda, an international student from Brazil who is in the same PhD program as Jain.
Arruda must support herself and her husband, who came with her to Arizona on an F-2 visa, using only the stipend provided by the university. An F-2 visa is available for the spouse or children of someone studying in the United States on an F-1 visa, but the spouse is classified as a dependent and is not permitted to work in the United States .
“I really have to consider (my husband) as if I was with a child, you know, with him as my dependent financially, because of his visa status,” Arruda said.
Arruda’s apartment search at the start of the school year was made more complicated by prices rising every few days, she said. Arruda stayed in an Airbnb during her first few weeks in Arizona, visiting many apartments that were out of her price range or couldn’t accommodate her status as an international student until she finally had lucky and found accommodation for the school year.
But even the price of her current apartment is much higher than she feels comfortable paying, she said.
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Joseph Karanja said increasingly high rental prices had a negative impact on his experience at ASU. As a Ph.D. student from Kenya, he intends to stay in college and complete his education, but if the time comes when he can’t afford to live in the Phoenix metro area, he may not have any more options.
Karanja tried to save money on rent this school year by choosing to live in an apartment farther away in metro Phoenix instead of near the Tempe campus. His rent may be slightly cheaper than in the heart of downtown Tempe, but he said he’s still struggling to make ends meet.
Additionally, the extra commute brings him additional challenges such as missing in-person social events and having to pay for fuel as gas prices skyrocket.
Although he knows ASU is not responsible for rent prices in Tempe, Karanja wishes the university could provide him and other students like him with more resources so they can focus on their studies instead of worrying about how they will afford to rent each month.
“When you are a full-time student, you are supposed to perform better than others because (the university) invests in you,” Karanja said. “But if their investment is limited, it also becomes limiting in terms of productivity.”
Salazar said the university is building more on-campus housing options that should be available for students in 2024.
Until then, students are doing what they can to afford to live near ASU and complete their studies. Karanja said he is considering paid summer internship programs that could potentially help him pay next year’s rent.
“But being an international student, nothing is guaranteed,” Karanja said.
Contact the reporter at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @EndiaRain.
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