After serving two years in the Army I was entitled to two years of school under the GI Bill. In the fall of 1968 I enrolled in a two year forestry curriculum at Lassen College in Susanville, California. My monthly allocation was $130 to live on. Initially all my text books and school supplies had to be purchased from this monthly amount also. There was some savings I had that went toward these items and my 1963 Ford pickup cost me $800 from money saved up while in the Army.
My monthly
rent was $50 for a small room behind a house where I had access to the
landlord’s house through the back door to use a bathroom and utilize a space in
their refrigerator. This left me $80 to
cover my monthly insurance premium on my 1963 Ford pickup, (don’t remember the
amount) gas and grocery money. My diet consisted of potatoes, cereal and a few
can goods, don’t remember any fresh produce or meat. I do
remember the price of beer at $2.09 for a 6-pac of Hamm’s Beer and a $1.89 for
a gallon of Red Mountain wine. After
making friends with some classmates we would combine resources and share a meal
at their house a few blocks away once or twice a week. Eating out was rare, but do recall eating
hamburgers and French fries at the local Denney’s now and then.
After my
first year I worked as a seasonal firefighter for the Forest Service on the
Modoc National Forest as a GS-3 earning $2.39/hour. There was still a food expense, but housing
was free consisting of a bed, closet and wood stove in a cabin at the Hilton
Spike Camp Guard Station. Somehow I
even saved some money for the upcoming school year.
During my
second year of college a friend from Willows, who had served three years in the
Air Force shared an apartment with me for $150/month which included a kitchen
and all the furnishings. Our monthly
allotment from the GI Bill had been raised to $175/month leaving us $100/month
for everything else. Don’t remember going without anything, even
had meat in our diet and no shortage of beer.
No comments:
Post a Comment