One-Sixth Level of Monthly Rent
The burden of housing rent leading to enduring grueling commutes does not seem to be limited to Korean college students. A story of an American graduate student enduring an enormous commute has become a hot topic. The mode of transportation is none other than an airplane. The airfare is said to be more bearable than the housing rent.
To reduce costs from the high housing rents around San Francisco, a graduate student commuting by plane from Los Angeles (LA) to the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) has been revealed. The San Francisco Bay Area is known as a region with very high living costs, and a household with an annual income of $100,000 is classified as low-income according to related reports.
The protagonist of this story, covered by social media and local US broadcasts, only disclosed his name as "Bill."
In an interview with KTLA, he introduced himself as a "super commuter," saying that his friends ask him every evening not about the menu but about the return flight time.
He decided to commute by plane to avoid expensive monthly rent when he was accepted into UC Berkeley's master's program in engineering.
During the semester, Bill attended classes by traveling between LA Airport and San Francisco Airport more than three times a week. He considered it "traveling rather than commuting," and although his classmates initially thought he would quit commuting after the first week, he continued flying to commute.
Bill woke up every day at 3:30 a.m., traveled to LA Airport, took a 6 a.m. flight to San Francisco Airport, and arrived at school by 8:30 a.m. using the BART subway. Classes started at 10 a.m., and after attending classes all day, he returned home around midnight.
The cost Bill spent on commuting was about $5,592 (7.38 million KRW) per year. Although a considerable amount, considering that the monthly rent around Berkeley is $2,000 to $3,000, this is a relatively affordable cost, amounting to one-quarter to one-sixth of the annual rent.
The total flight distance reached approximately 92,089 miles (148,202 km), and the commuting time was about 75,955 minutes (52 days 17 hours 55 minutes).
Bill said this entire experience was one of the craziest things in his life and expressed joy at having never missed a class and accomplishing this feat. He named Alaska Airlines as his favorite carrier, praising the staff's kindness and the free upgrade policy.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
