Living on the GI Bill

 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.