When rent hit $2500 in Vancouver, a student gave up his apartment — and chose to fly 600 miles to class instead

A Canadian student preferred an almost two-hour-long flight to class over paying rent in Vancouver, according to CTV News. Tim Chen, a final-year economics student at the University of British Columbia, flew from Calgary, his hometown, to his college twice a week, covering a distance of over 600 miles each time. Turns out, his math was absolutely on point.

Chen had initially rented a place in Vancouver, but he had to leave when the rent increased significantly. In fact, he was asked to pay $2,500, which he couldn't afford. So, Chen decided to take the wild route. Twice a week, he took a morning flight from Calgary to Vancouver and returned home at night. While his approach may look outlandish, Chen confessed it has helped him save more money.

"I found there are absolutely savings on rent since I don’t need to pay rent in Calgary (I live with my parents), except for just casually paying for utilities, and it’s much cheaper than renting a 1B for 2k ($2,000) more in Vancouver," he confessed in a Reddit post.

Notably, a nonstop, round-trip from his city to Vancouver cost him around $150, so per month, he had to pay only $1,200, much less than the rent near his university. 

Rent in Canada is skyrocketing. As shocking as it sounds, Rentals.ca has found that 33% of Canadian respondents report spending over 50% of their net income on rent. Moreover, the study also revealed that 62% of renters spent more than 30% of their net income, while 12% say they spend more than 70% of their net income on rent. Renters across all age groups are facing the problem, but some are more affected than the rest. "Younger renters aged 18–24 are more likely to report very high income shares going toward rent," the study revealed.

Americans have also been facing a similar situation. For example, Harvard University's study observed that 65% of working-age renters are struggling to support a basic lifestyle after paying rent. On average, renters were found to pay $18,230 a year in rent, and another $57,340 goes to transportation, taxes, healthcare, food, and child care. In fact, the financial struggle is so terrifying that a 2021 report found that 43% of Americans had borrowed from friends or family to pay for expenses, including their rent. 

Meanwhile, reacting to Chen's story, @wittyringer joked, "He might be the only one closest to arguing back at his grandparents, who claim to have walked 200 km every day just to get to school across mountains." @bentami commented, "This is actually sad, though. Taking 8 trips on a plane is cheaper than renting by almost double." @kcarl shared, "This is genius. There's no point renting out in suburban areas in BC like Abbotsford/Langley since even rent there has gone up, and commute time would probably be a lot longer during rush hour compared to just flying to YVR from Calgary."

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