Can Tampa’s recent grads afford to stay in the area?

As rent prices continue to increase, some University of South Florida graduates have found it hard to move out on their own or continue to build up a savings account.

The average asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Hillsborough County is currently $1,565, according to data from commercial real estate data company CoStar. Just five years ago that average was $1,119.

How are young, recent college graduates managing this?

We talked to two USF alumni who graduated in the last three years and one current USF senior, each from different fields of study. The average monthly income among them is about $2,600 after taxes. They all have roommates, and they all echoed the same sentiment: Making ends meet isn’t easy in Tampa.

These 20-somethings shared with us their monthly earnings and expenses, how they paid for school and how they budget. Some even shared how they managed to pool together the money to pay apartment deposits, furnish their living spaces (hand-me-downs and cheap, used furniture were popular answers) and put a down payment on a home.

Here are each of their stories:

Astrid Hilson, 24

Seasonal jobs in the summers during Astrid Hilson’s college years allowed her to build up a savings account.

She chose to go to school near her Temple Terrace home so she could continue to live there. Tuition was paid for by a mix of scholarships, she said, and her grandmother paid any remaining balance. When she graduated in May 2020, Hilson was debt free, but wasn’t able to find a job until September of the same year. Her salary was $30,000.

A year after graduating she was able to move out of her parents’ house and into a two-bedroom apartment with her friend in Temple Terrace. Rent, utilities and internet were about $1,600 a month, which they split. Hilson said she blew through her savings quickly after moving and now struggles to build up that account the way it once was. After her friend moved out, Hilson’s boyfriend moved in, in October 2022. Their base rent increased and now they pay around $1,800 a month, with utilities and internet included.

Until October, Hilson’s monthly income after taxes was about $2,000. All her money went toward living expenses, which totaled to about the same as her monthly earnings.

“I was living paycheck to paycheck on and off because all my money was going to my needs. I wasn’t able to save anything,” Hilson said. “I am finally starting to build up my savings again now that I’m making a little bit more, but still, it’s still not really enough.”

Now, Hilson makes $40,000 working in the admissions office of the USF medical school, bringing in $2,500 a month but spending the same on living expenses. The couple had toyed with the idea of moving to a different apartment, but couldn’t find anything more affordable. Average rent prices for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Hillsborough County currently are at $1,887, CoStar data shows.

Corey Shiver, 20

Corey Shiver is one semester away from graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Temple Terrace where he shares a room with his girlfriend; another couple shares the other bedroom. Their total rent is $2,300 a month, but it comes out to about $600 a person.

The apartment came unfurnished, so Shiver and his girlfriend bought most of their furniture secondhand. In the shared living space there’s only a kitchen table and some outdoor chairs brought by the other couple.

Shiver works 20 hours a week for $13 an hour at USF’s Recreation and Wellness Center, totaling around $1,000 a month, he said, and his girlfriend brings in about the same amount of money. He’s still leaning on his parents for help making rent and car payments.

“I don’t know how people do it,” he said. “If you don’t have parents that help you, you have to work 40 hours a week.”

According to Shiver, his tuition is 75% paid for with a Bright Futures scholarship and the rest is covered by loans. He estimates he’ll have a total of $20,000 in loan debt upon graduation. He wants to go straight into a graduate program, but between his loans and other expenses, he does not think it will be possible.

He said that while he does budget his money, setting some aside into a savings account isn’t feasible, and for what he has saved, it isn’t “enough to justify it being an actual savings account.”

Shiver also said he has medical problems, which adds doctor’s appointments, prescriptions and labs to his list of financial concerns. Those expenses can vary every month.

Jordi Zapata, 24

Starting at the tail end of his senior year at USF, Jordi Zapata said he spent almost a year researching and teaching himself about real estate and the Tampa housing market so he and his fiancé could move into a home. By the end of 2021 they were living in a three-bedroom house in Seminole Heights.

The home was a little out of their budget, but Zapata said the $255,000 price tag was much lower than what other houses in the neighborhood are going for. Homes on the same street have sold for over $400,000, according to Zapata.

Living in an apartment, the couple would split costs evenly, but now it varies from month to month, Zapata said. However, they have a joint bank account that water, electric and mortgage payments come out of. They pay about $1,600 a month toward their mortgage.

Zapata works in the public sector as an environmental scientist and earns $46,000 a year. Although he said they are financially stable, Zapata finds himself more concerned about money than he thinks someone his age should be.

“I didn’t grow up with a lot of money,” he said. “So I know what it’s like to not have it and having to rely on services or family members or sacrificing time in order to not only provide for you and your loved ones, but also to try and get ahead.

“Most of my worries is to avoid that, which I don’t think we’re near to, but now the next step is to retire at a reasonable age without having to work two or three jobs later on in life. I’m trying to enjoy my 20s.”

The Tampa Bay Times has a team of reporters focusing on rising costs in our region. If you have an idea, question or story to tell, please email us at costofliving@tampabay.com.

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