# Why do people with good jobs still live out of their cars? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927 "2018-08-01T13:54:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/141 "2018-08-03T23:56:08Z")
Isn’t income-based repayment only available on federal student loans? I think many of the people with onerous student loan balances have borrowed money outside the federal program. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/142 "2018-08-04T01:45:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Isn’t income-based repayment only available on federal student loans? I think many of the people with onerous student loan balances have borrowed money outside the federal program. They can be consolidated so it’s all federal. And no, the reason for onerous balances isn’t from that, it’s because schools are extremely expensive and the interest rate is high. And yet there’s a rat race, if all your competitors for a job have a Master’s degree you probably have to get one. What the Federal government _should_ do is only make loans on the degree program not to exceed the net present expected value of the degree. “net present expected value” is a complex calculation but essentially it’s the average economic gain of the degree corrected for interest. Less Federal money means less inflation of degree prices and the most overpriced schools and programs would all be closed down. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/143 "2018-08-04T02:14:10Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > I’m not sure what’s sad about someone not wanting to live in a state that explicitly endorses discrimination against them, and where their life will not be safe if they stray outside of a few particular enclaves. The attitude of “it’s sad, the way these people have irrational hatred towards a perfectly good state just because it’s flyover country” doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny when you consider that the state overwhelmingly passed a broad pro-discrimination bill in the house just a few years ago (the senate killed it in committee) and recently passed a narrow pro-discrimination bill allowing adoption agencies to discriminate however they want as long as it’s for a religious reason. Yes, it’s righteousness, not hate. Sorry for stepping out of line. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/144 "2018-08-04T02:31:03Z")
reading this thread, I have never been more grateful that I did not need student loans and that I chose a career that was in demand (nursing) You may not be working your dream job, but you never have to go hungry in the bedpan business. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/145 "2018-08-05T00:41:05Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > She is not tenured, she is a adjunct professor. Adjuncts are kind of far down in the pecking order. The article says she makes $2,500 a month. If she can make that 12 months out of the year (probably not) it’s $30K. > > I am in the middle of a [Planet Money podcast](https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/07/27/633238360/episode-856-yes-in-my-backyard) about a woman who was teaching math at a community college in Marin County (CA) at $20/hr but by the time she factored in commuting costs, she said she was netting $12.50/hr\*. So she got a job at a bakery for $12.50/hr. She wanted to move because she couldn’t afford to stay but she couldn’t afford to save enough money to pay for the costs of moving. The kind of story in the OP is common in the SF Bay area. (She goes on to be an activist for affordable housing.) She wasn’t homeless but it sounded like she was living on the edge. > > ETA: That being said, the prof from the OP might be able to get comparable pay in Kansas City, Mo., with a much lower cost of living. > > * * * > > \*The story didn’t explain this, but that is such a big bite I suspect she was taking her pay minus commuting costs and dividing by work time plus commuting time. So that salary is around or less than the starting salary for working in an Amazon warehouse, which is usually labelled as not a “good job” and is a given that you expect people to be living in cars. Can’t count how many times I’ve read something about much money Jeff Bezos makes but workers are “living in parking lots.” The main answer to the OP comes down to 1. $30,000 jobs are NOT “good jobs” and 2. places with low cost of living are even less likely to have access to “good jobs” or pay lower for similar things. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/146 "2018-08-05T00:43:18Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > They can be consolidated so it’s all federal. And no, the reason for onerous balances isn’t from that, it’s because schools are extremely expensive and the interest rate is high. And yet there’s a rat race, if all your competitors for a job have a Master’s degree you probably have to get one. > > What the Federal government _should_ do is only make loans on the degree program not to exceed the net present expected value of the degree. “net present expected value” is a complex calculation but essentially it’s the average economic gain of the degree corrected for interest. > > Less Federal money means less inflation of degree prices and the most overpriced schools and programs would all be closed down. Tell that to Sallie Mae and the 3rd bank that has owned my loan initiated with US Bank. The first sentence, any way. You have a point with the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/147 "2018-08-05T00:52:38Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > What the Federal government _should_ do is only make loans on the degree program not to exceed the net present expected value of the degree. “net present expected value” is a complex calculation but essentially it’s the average economic gain of the degree corrected for interest. They could do that but it sounds like they’d have to evaluate every degree program to calculate the net present expected value. Given that the present Secretary of Education killed a team in the Department of Education that investigated fraud at for-profit schools and killed an Obama-era regulation that required that those schools demonstrate that their programs lead to gainful employment, it seems unlikely that they’re going to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/148 "2018-08-05T00:53:45Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > reading this thread, I have never been more grateful that I did not need student loans and that I chose a career that was in demand (nursing) > > You may not be working your dream job, but you never have to go hungry in the bedpan business. Well unfortunately in one of the other links I posted they discussed at a similar parking lot for persons living in campers, there was a nurse living there. Please let me ask you this, would the hospital you are working at allow an employee to live in the parking lot? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/149 "2018-08-05T01:06:10Z")
I have been thinking. It’s sad to say but she could be working as a custodian for her college and making just as much or even more money than what she is doing now. Heck custodians, when they are employed by the college, get benefits. And actually getting work in maintenance she could have worked her way up to being a supervisor or any other number of good maintenance jobs at her college.[HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a job at her college as a plumber which pays $50,000 to $75,000 a year. Actually [HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a link to all the non academic jobs at her college. Everything from security to administrative assistant to painter. Why cant she do one of those? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/150 "2018-08-05T01:47:43Z")
How many times have you been told that you could make more money in a different field? Have you switched careers? Look, you need to understand that at some level, people in this situation are more okay with living in a car than making certain other changes to their life. You may have totally other priorities, but it doesn’t mean that yours are correct and their are objectively wrong. If you can’t understand this, you must realize that this thread is yet another one of those “Why can’t everyone just run their lives like I want them to” threads. (If you were questioning why someone can’t do something about the broken socio-economic landscape in places like the Bay Area, that would be a different matter.) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/151 "2018-08-05T02:33:52Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > And actually getting work in maintenance she could have worked her way up to being a supervisor or any other number of good maintenance jobs at her college.[HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a job at her college as a plumber which pays $50,000 to $75,000 a year. That pluming job certainly pays better than what she’s doing now, yes. And, if you read that job description, it says: > [@](#): > > Must possess those abilities normally acquired through any combination of progressively responsible training and experience which demonstrates achievement of journey-level skills equivalent to that acquired through completion of a standard plumbers apprenticeship program. [In California, a plumbing apprenticeship program](http://www.eplumbingcourses.com/plumbing-license/california-plumbing-license/) entails: > [@](#): > > Apprenticeship programs are four (4) or five (5) years long in California and include on the job work experience and training plus formal schooling in plumbing-related classes at night or on weekends. Part of why this person wound up in the situation she did is that she went back to school, and racked up debt, for job retraining. To get to that $50-$75K as a skilled tradesperson, there’s yet more training, yet more schooling (during which, she might well be making less than she is now, while working a physically demanding job while in her 50s). Sure, there are other options available to her, but I’m scratching my head as to why you specifically pointed to that one. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/152 "2018-08-05T02:34:53Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > \ > And actually getting work in maintenance she could have worked her way up to being a supervisor or any other number of good maintenance jobs at her college.[HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a job at her college as a plumber which pays $50,000 to $75,000 a year. Do you really think you can become a plumber by working your way up from custodian??? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/153 "2018-08-05T04:41:36Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Do you really think you can become a plumber by working your way up from custodian??? I doubt she’d be able to get a custodian job, either. In general, UC, Cal State, and CCC jobs are a lot more competitive, because most are union, which is much better pay and benefits than they would be otherwise. (I’m pretty sure the custodians are union at SJ State.) An English teacher without any custodian experience is not going to be able to land a custodian job there, and probably not an administrative assistant job, either. You have to have a lot of experience for those, too. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/154 "2018-08-05T06:40:55Z")
[quote=“Ravenman, post:150, topic:818927”] The bolded part below… > [@](#): > > Look, you need to understand that at some level, **people in this situation are more okay with living in a car than making certain other changes to their life**. You may have totally other priorities, but it doesn’t mean that yours are correct and their are objectively wrong. …is the core issue. The people living in cars and vans are typically presented (and often present themselves) as doing this because they don’t have a choice. What you’re finally acknowledging above is what every critic has been saying all along: they _do_ have a choice. And it’s pretty universally accepted that as an adult you don’t get to complain or whine about a situation you’re in by choice, or get much sympathy for hardships you’ve chosen to endure. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/155 "2018-08-05T07:21:30Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I have been thinking. > > It’s sad to say but she could be working as a custodian for her college and making just as much or even more money than what she is doing now. Heck custodians, when they are employed by the college, get benefits. > > And actually getting work in maintenance she could have worked her way up to being a supervisor or any other number of good maintenance jobs at her college.[HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a job at her college as a plumber which pays $50,000 to $75,000 a year. > > Actually [HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a link to all the non academic jobs at her college. Everything from security to administrative assistant to painter. Why cant she do one of those? Yeah, let me point you to all the entry level jobs like that which refused to hire me because the job was “beneath me” and “you’re overqualified” and “you would be bored” because I had a mere BFA, FFS. Employers don’t care if you desperately need the money and you’re going on six months unemployed. When you’re educated you can enter a no man’s land where they won’t _let_ you take the uneducated jobs no matter how well you can do them, but you’re not good enough for the actual career jobs yet. I don’t know how all those people with master’s degrees got shitty retail jobs in all the sob stories, I could never convince them to take me. I’m glad I’m out of that race by finally finding a career job and then moving on to freelancing now. It’s not an easy position to be in. At least I had the unemployment sob story, if she tells them she’s currently employed I don’t think they would ever. Other career jobs turned me down when finding out I was employed, because “your jobs sounds nice, why would you want to leave?”! Freakin’ no win situation out here. And if you have no other employment to fill in the years-long gap left by taking off your current employment, good luck. FYI, when I was talking about where I live, it was indeed exactly like one of the examples given later with $900-$1100 rents and a tertiary city to one of actual note. I’m not saying one of the big ten metro areas is the only worthwhile place to live. Where I live is still a far cry from most of America though, that people always point to as “but it’s cheap! (and also a cultural wasteland, riddled with drugs, alcoholism, oh, and no jobs)”. I’ve driven through it. You can’t fool me about the level of culture to be expected. I am indeed willing to pay $940 here for culture than el cheapo town or, as someone else was pointing out, a state that actively wants to destroy my rights. You will never find me living in a red state due to abortion laws alone. You think your debt is already bad, wait until you’ve got an unwanted baby on top of it, and the state’s closed all the clinics that can serve you. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/156 "2018-08-05T09:48:29Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > San Jose is an expensive place to rent. Average for a one-bedroom these days is something like 2K/month. If you’re only making $2,500 a month you’re going to need a roommate or two. When my Aunt was in training in NYC in the 40’s, she shared a _bed_ with two other women (they did work shift work, but even so they didn’t always get exclusive use of the bed). And I remember that in the 90’s, there were LA suburbs where the detached suburban houses were housing 20-30 people (I don’t know if that’s still true). So this “living in a car” thing is definitely a first world problem. I understand that people aspire to owning their own home, but I’m surprised that there aren’t more middle-class _rooms_ available, rather than _apartments_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/157 "2018-08-05T11:56:40Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Actually [HERE](https://cmshr.cms.sjsu.edu/psp/HSJPRDF/EMPLOYEE/HSJPRD/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_CE.GBL) is a link to all the non academic jobs at her college. Everything from security to administrative assistant to painter. Why cant she do one of those? My last rental has been from a friend with a degree in Art, specialty (masters) Graphic Arts; I’m not sure what subfield his PhD in the same field is officially in. You can tell how many times and how many colors he’s painted the walls by the tracks left on the skirting. You can also tell which parts of the doors he painted first, and that he painted them in situ. Apparently Arts Degrees in Graphic Arts do not include Applied Painting Skills. Even if he was interested in getting a job as a house painter he’s not qualified, never mind lousy at taking orders\*. - I’ve known him since our ages were in single digits; when we were kids we wrestled more often with each other than with our respective cousins. Therefore I have the right to say he can’t follow orders even if the order is ‘get out of the fire you moron!’; he’d stop to argue about the ‘moron’ part. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/158 "2018-08-06T18:51:59Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > Yeah, let me point you to all the entry level jobs like that which refused to hire me because the job was “beneath me” and “you’re overqualified” and “you would be bored” because I had a mere BFA, FFS. Employers don’t care if you desperately need the money and you’re going on six months unemployed. When you’re educated you can enter a no man’s land where they won’t _let_ you take the uneducated jobs no matter how well you can do them, but you’re not good enough for the actual career jobs yet. I don’t know how all those people with master’s degrees got shitty retail jobs in all the sob stories, I could never convince them to take me. I’m glad I’m out of that race by finally finding a career job and then moving on to freelancing now. It’s not an easy position to be in. At least I had the unemployment sob story, if she tells them she’s currently employed I don’t think they would ever. Other career jobs turned me down when finding out I was employed, because “your jobs sounds nice, why would you want to leave?”! Freakin’ no win situation out here. And if you have no other employment to fill in the years-long gap left by taking off your current employment, good luck. > > FYI, when I was talking about where I live, it was indeed exactly like one of the examples given later with $900-$1100 rents and a tertiary city to one of actual note. I’m not saying one of the big ten metro areas is the only worthwhile place to live. Where I live is still a far cry from most of America though, that people always point to as “but it’s cheap! (and also a cultural wasteland, riddled with drugs, alcoholism, oh, and no jobs)”. I’ve driven through it. You can’t fool me about the level of culture to be expected. I am indeed willing to pay $940 here for culture than el cheapo town or, as someone else was pointing out, a state that actively wants to destroy my rights. You will never find me living in a red state due to abortion laws alone. You think your debt is already bad, wait until you’ve got an unwanted baby on top of it, and the state’s closed all the clinics that can serve you. I can totally agree and sympathize your fist point of employers not wanting to take on a person who’s obvious career goals are somewhere else. It happened to me years ago and its partly why I switched career paths (became an electrician). To me, her big mistake was spending the $150,000 for the worthless english masters when she could have started there and retrained for another career path. Switching career paths is often very difficult but it can happen. On your final points - with all due respect I still think your being paranoid. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/159 "2018-08-06T18:53:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > My last rental has been from a friend with a degree in Art, specialty (masters) Graphic Arts; I’m not sure what subfield his PhD in the same field is officially in. > > You can tell how many times and how many colors he’s painted the walls by the tracks left on the skirting. You can also tell which parts of the doors he painted first, and that he painted them in situ. Apparently Arts Degrees in Graphic Arts do not include Applied Painting Skills. Even if he was interested in getting a job as a house painter he’s not qualified, never mind lousy at taking orders\*. > > - I’ve known him since our ages were in single digits; when we were kids we wrestled more often with each other than with our respective cousins. Therefore I have the right to say he can’t follow orders even if the order is ‘get out of the fire you moron!’; he’d stop to argue about the ‘moron’ part. Great story - thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927/160 "2018-08-06T19:11:29Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > To me, her big mistake was spending the $150,000 for the worthless english masters when she could have started there and retrained for another career path. Switching career paths is often very difficult but it can happen. In case you’re forgetting, the subject of your OP _did_, in fact, switch career paths, and retrained for that new career path (which is what led to her big student loan debt). From the link in your OP: > [@](#): > > James-Penney used to be an admin in high tech, but was laid off in the dot-com bust and was forced to live on her savings. > > She went back to school and paid tuition with student loans. Now, what she chose to pursue appears to have not been a great choice, but that’s an issue of hindsight (and, possibly, a poor or misinformed decision at that time). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-people-with-good-jobs-still-live-out-of-their-cars/818927.md?page=9)