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CNBC
02-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
24-year-old American moved to Belgium to get his Master's degree—it cost just $4,610: 'As a student, there is no better cost of living'
In 2020, Colby Grey was a freshman at the University of California, Santa Cruz when the COVID-19 pandemic halted his college experience. By his second semester, Grey was forced to move home, and it was during this time back in San Luis Obispo, California, that he started thinking about studying abroad. Grey went and studied in Copenhagen for six months. When that time was up, he wasn't ready to head back to Santa Cruz, so he attended a Semester at Sea before finally returning to California. "When I came back to Santa Cruz, it was a real reverse culture shock for me," Grey says. "There was no housing left there. The city is really not built for students." Back in Santa Cruz, Grey lived off campus in a two-bedroom apartment with three other roommates and worked as a study abroad advisor. His share of the rent was $1,340 a month, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. "I was paying more to live in Santa Cruz than I had been paying to live abroad. I said to myself I couldn't do it anymore," Grey says. "I knew that after I was done [with undergrad] I would apply for a master's degree in Belgium." Not only was Grey unhappy being back in California, he was also dissatisfied with the quality of education he received at UC Santa Cruz, especially considering the cost. For the 2024-2025 school year, the average cost for in-state students living on campus is $44,160. Grey's classes were canceled for more than half a semester one year and he still had to pay for the entire thing. "It just didn't seem like I was getting what I paid for even with a ton of federal and state funding," Grey says. "I knew there had to be a better system and a better way to get an education. Through my study abroad job, I realized I could just get a visa and study as an international student for a sixth of the price." Grey considered master's programs at Cambridge University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, but he couldn't justify the cost. That led him to Leuven, Belgium. Leuven was built to be a "15-minute city," an urban planning concept where most daily necessities like shopping, healthcare, and more can be reached within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. The concept is gaining traction in other Belgian cities like Brussels and Mechelen and exists in major cities like Paris, France, Barcelona, Spain and Melbourne, Australia. In Leuven, cars are banned in the city center and it is easy — and encouraged — to get around on bike. "I fell in love with it and loved that Belgium was centrally located, so I could travel, too," he says "There are four different countries around me within a three-hour train ride, and that was very unique." Leuven is home to the KU Leuven university, which offers a program for degree-seeking students called a search permit. This permit allows students or researchers to stay for a year and work unrestricted, provided they obtain a master's degree from a university in the country. It's a one-year program, and the tuition cost is about 3,800 euros a year or $4,481 USD. Most of Grey's classes provided all course material online, so he didn't have to worry about buying textbooks. "As a student, there is no better cost of living. There is nothing better economically than being in Europe. There's no reason to go into debt here, so it just makes sense at this stage in my life," he says. Grey arrived in Belgium in July 2023 with two checked bags and a backpack. He moved into a four-bedroom house with three other people and paid 500 euros, or USD $544, a month in rent at the time: "It was fantastic. I mean, I was paying a third of the price to get my own room." Grey immediately set out to build a life in Leuven. "When I first got here, it was daunting. I was aware of the fact that I had no friends here and I was totally on my own," he says. "I think that was the first time I ever felt like that in my life. I worked really hard to make friends and make a community here." Grey graduated last summer, having paid 4,290 euros, USD $4,610 at the time, for the year-long master's program. Grey then moved about a 10-minute bike ride outside the city where he pays 420 euros a month in rent, including utilities. His current housing also provides some toiletries and some food, too. The 24-year-old has lived in Belgium for almost two years now, and says he loves the work-life balance he's been able to find there. "The community feels so strong here and I have a really great balance between my work life and my home life," he says. "It's such a slower pace of life here and it's really beautiful." Grey loves living in Belgium so much that he's gearing up to start his second master's program at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Brussels, the country's capital, in September. The estimated cost for the year is roughly 4,960 euros — USD $5,848. He'll live on campus and pay around the same amount as he does in rent now. "I'm really committed to living here in Belgium and eventually going for naturalization," Grey says. "After I graduate, the goal would be to work as a journalist in Brussels for either one of the American papers or as a North American correspondent for one of the Belgian papers." The one thing Grey does know for sure is that he isn't ready to return to America just yet, especially after seeing how much his life has changed for the better in Belgium. "I knew that Belgium was an option for creating a life here and it had more pathways for me to live here. I'm grateful to my 22-year-old self that I chose this country and I chose this path because it looks like I'm gonna stay and if I don't stay, it won't be due to a lack of trying," he says. "Living in the U.S., I felt there was a ticking clock inside of me where I had to get into the workforce, get a house, have a family, and I think now I've slowed down a little bit and kind of just smelled the roses a little bit more,."
San Francisco Chronicle
19-06-2025
- Science
- San Francisco Chronicle
How changing ocean colors could impact California
Earth's oceans have been getting greener at the poles and becoming bluer closer to the equator, according to a study published Thursday in Science. The shift reflects changes in marine ecosystems, which experts say could affect fish populations and create problems for fisheries, including in California. 'It has lots of potential implications for the way we use the ocean,' said Raphael Kudela, a professor of ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz, who wasn't part of the new study. The scientists analyzed satellite data from 2003 to 2022 to track ocean concentrations of chlorophyll, a green pigment that phytoplankton use to absorb sunlight and produce sugars. While phytoplankton are often associated with harmful algal blooms, they are also the base of the marine food web, serving as food for fish and other sea creatures. Ocean regions with the highest concentrations of chlorophyll, or the greenest areas, were at higher latitudes, toward the poles. Mid-latitudes had relatively low levels of chlorophyll, or were more blue. The authors tracked global shifts in chlorophyll concentrations, a proxy for phytoplankton populations, over recent decades. The authors associated the poleward 'greening' with increasing sea-surface temperatures. 'This uneven distribution of chlorophyll (has been) intensifying over the past 20 years,' said lead author Haipeng Zhao, a postdoctoral researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Zhao performed the research while at Duke University. The scientists quantified the trend using the Gini index, a measure typically used for studying wealth disparities. Kudela, of UC Santa Cruz, described the approach as 'a very elegant way' to address the question of whether ocean waters have been getting greener toward the poles. The new study analyzed open ocean waters; researchers didn't directly address coastal regions, like the Pacific Ocean waters offshore of California. Sediment in shallow coastal waters complicates satellite data: 'We don't think there's an effective algorithm that can accurately gather the phytoplankton concentrations in those coastal regions,' Zhao said. Coastal waters and the open ocean also experience distinct physical processes, Zhao explained. Kudela expects that the poleward shift in chlorophyll and phytoplankton described by the authors extends to the California coast, though the data could be noisier. Much of California lines up with latitudes associated with ocean waters that have gotten bluer over recent decades. Latitudes north of roughly Humboldt Bay have gotten greener. Scientists have already observed changes in marine environments: 'We're seeing organisms in California and Oregon and Washington moving northward because they're basically trying to follow their preferred temperature,' said Kudela, who authored a perspective accompanying the new study. Kudela noted in the perspective that the new results contrast with those of a 2023 study, which reported that oceans have become greener at low latitudes in recent decades and that the trend wasn't associated with sea-surface temperatures. That analysis, however, used a different type of satellite observation. El Niño conditions, associated with warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures, have provided short glimpses into what California waters could be like if global oceans warm, Kudela said. 'We oftentimes see the peak anchovy abundance shifts from Central California (and) Monterey up into Northern California,' Kudela said. Yellowfin tuna and dorado, normally found off Mexico, are more common off Southern California during El Niño years. The authors write that additional decades of satellite data are needed to determine whether poleward greening is a product of natural variability or driven by climate change.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists warn of critical missing piece in humans' understanding of animals: 'Not quite sophisticated enough'
A new paper argues that researchers must change how they examine animals adapting to the warming planet. Otherwise, they risk misunderstanding key behavioral information. Published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, this paper asserts that most studies look at one piece of the ecological puzzle. But more work needs to be done to fully understand how "species on the move" are changing their behavior. "The picture that we all have in our heads for species on the move, we're arguing, is not quite sophisticated enough," said Alexa Fredston, University of California Santa Cruz marine ecologist and one of the paper's co-authors. Animals use various strategies to adapt. But the paper says scientists usually measure one factor, such as shifting birth rates, over a period of time or space. By considering multiple factors within one study, scientists can create a more holistic understanding of an animal's behavior. This is crucial because of how much we rely on animals for our food supply. We need to understand how our ecosystems function because if they collapse, so do we. We need to protect insects because they pollinate our crops. Animals such as beavers are considered keystone species because when they aren't thriving, the ecosystem falls apart. Holistic study is important because it allows researchers to keep tabs on all these moving parts. This is already happening within the group of scientists who published this paper. A study of birds by Monte Neate-Clegg, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Cruz, examined three adaptation strategies. A few hundred species of birds were adapting in part by shifting their breeding strategies. But the two other strategies — moving northward and to higher elevations — were just as important to the process. "This more holistic approach tells us their overall ability to track climate change and emphasizes which aspects of climate tracking are potentially easier for different species," Neate-Clegg said. While animals are making quick changes to their behavior, scientific research may move at a slower pace. But it's a change that's worth making for the sake of humanity and the environment. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
San Francisco Chronicle
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
'90s San Francisco lives on with Berkeley author's debut
It's the summer of 1996 and Hannah and her girlfriend Sam are following their post-high school plans to drive from Long Beach, N.Y., to San Francisco, a place where you could hold hands with your girlfriend in public. Growing up in Long Beach with a strict and stressed Orthodox Jewish mother, Hannah has to keep her identity a painful secret. Armed with extra cash from beloved Bubbe and little knowledge about how to make it in the world, Hannah and Sam scream when they see the Golden Gate Bridge. Hitting the pavement in the Castro is surreal. Everything is exciting until reality hits: Where will they live? How? More Information At 18 and with no work experience, the girls turn to one of the only ways to make enough money to survive in an expensive city: stripping. While the queer coming-of-age novel 'Girls Girls Girls' is fiction, the book, due out June 17, is also very much based on Berkeley writer Shoshana von Blanckensee's youth while living in San Francisco in the late 1990s. It was a time when a lot of people like her 'came out in a rage' and had a necessity to enmesh themselves in their queer community. 'I think at that time period, it was almost impossible to be gay and not have some amount of shame just from the culture, even if your family did accept you,' von Blanckensee reflects. 'There's a million ways to stifle a child and religion is one of them.' Regarding stripping, she shares that when she's alone with herself or with her community, she has no shame around that experience. Still, sharing that part of her life feels like coming out in a different way, she says. 'Putting this book out has been really hard because I know how the world sees stripping,' she says. 'Now, I'm a nurse. I'm a parent … A lot of people that I know that are not queer have no idea of that history.' While flunking out at UC Santa Cruz, the LGBT performance group Sister Spit invited von Blanckensee to join them on tour in the summer of 1998. ('It was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me,' she says.) Soon after, she relocated to San Francisco, where her real coming-of-age began. 'I started all these prose poems in 2004, 2005 … many were about my grandmother; many about stripping and sex work, about being young and queer,' von Blanckensee says, noting that eventually, she began imagining those poems forming a book. After several more years, she convinced herself to write it as a novel, and let herself off the hook by thinking, 'let yourself do a s—y job,' just for the sake of having a draft to work with. It didn't really take shape until she reached out to other queer writers she came up with in the vibrant queer community of '90s San Francisco. Von Blanckensee was surrounded by artists and writers like Eileen Myles ('Chelsea Girls') and Michelle Tea ('Valencia'), whom she remembers clanking away on a typewriter at house parties and handing out her work. 'Everyone's writing like maniacs; everyone's painting,' she recalls. 'It was make, make, make. Zines, zines, zines.' Being surrounded by that level of creativity was immensely inspiring. 'It was like Paris in the '20s,' shares photographer Chloe Sherman, whom von Blanckensee lived with for a period in Noe Valley and with whom she remains close. Sherman's 2023 book ' Renedes: San Francisco, The 1990s ' features some of her thousands of photos that captured the nostalgia of that time and the importance of queer and artistic community. 'We encouraged each other, we were entertained by each other,' Sherman went on, 'and it allowed for this support network and freedom to be creative and express ourselves — and to feel loved and adored while doing it.' In 'Girls,' Hannah is slower than her girlfriend at making new friends and finding her own community. Meanwhile, she's too afraid to call home and hear her mother's wrathful voice. The only person in her family she feels safe to talk with is her ever-so-encouraging grandmother. 'The Bubbe character was based on a combination of my own Bubbe and my first therapist — who I could only afford because I was stripping,' von Blanckensee shares, explaining that she was one of two therapists a lot of her queer friends saw. 'She was this older, Jewish femme lesbian and I felt so deeply connected to her. And actually, a lot of things that she literally said to me, the Bubbe character said.' Both mentors have since passed away, but their guidance lives on in the book. 'Girls' tackles addiction and depression, loneliness and otherness; it's a teary-eyed love letter to the San Francisco that remains and to its establishments that are long-gone. But above all it tenderly tells the story of a vulnerable young queer person in an unfamiliar place, just trying to create a new version of home. 'The community was out of necessity … I mourn the loss of what it was,' von Blanckensee shares, referencing how many of the establishments and artists mentioned in the book are no longer in the city. Sherman recalls people seeing the younger version of themselves on the walls of the Schlomer Haus Gallery in the Castro at her 2022 'Renegades' photography show. 'Being together in the same neighborhood all these years later, we were all so intensely reminded of the value of community,' she says. 'I think it highlighted what a big turning point (that '90s community was) for a lot of people.' 'Girls' is about to have a similar reunion. Rather than a bookstore interview, Von Blanckensee plans to debut her novel on Wednesday, June 18, at El Rio, a queer space in the Mission, where she can be surrounded by her community similar to the way it was in the '90s. 'One of my big fears with having a book come out is that somebody is going to try interview me in an extremely academic way that I'm gonna be totally lost with, because I'm not an academic-y person. I know I wrote a book but, I'm really regular,' she says with a laugh. 'I didn't want to do my book launch at a bookstore, I wanted to have a big party.'
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Researchers issue urgent warning over increasingly powerful threat to coastal communities: 'When it happens, it's going to be worse'
Coastal communities are experiencing excessive flooding — a form of extreme weather — at alarming new rates, and scientists are sounding the alarm about wildly insufficient infrastructure in low-lying urban areas. Researchers from UC Santa Cruz and the United States Geological Survey teamed up to identify novel flood mitigation strategies, citing an urgent need to shore up coastlines, and their joint findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. "By 2050, the coastal flooding from extreme storms we currently consider once-in-a-lifetime events could occur every other year due to sea level rise," said in their coverage of the study. "Further, the flooding expected today from a once-in-a-lifetime event could occur daily by the end of the century." Coastal habitats like marshes and coral reefs "have been shown to effectively mitigate flood risk," but decades of development eroded those natural protections. "We've built cities and communities and our world under the assumption that these habitats will continue to protect us," explained lead author Rae Taylor-Burns, "and yet we degrade them." Researchers explored horizontal levees to mitigate flood risk in the San Francisco Bay area and found they were up to 30% more effective than traditional levees at mitigating flood risk. Coastal flooding has always occurred, but rising temperatures have made these extreme events more frequent and more deadly. Climate tech investor and journalist Molly Wood has said that "climate isn't weather, and weather isn't climate," likening human-influenced climate impacts to "steroids for weather." "Whatever was already going to happen, like droughts, floods, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, snowstorms, rain — all that is still going to happen," Wood explained. "But when it happens, it's going to be worse." Echoing the study's researchers, she continued. "Also, extreme versions of what used to be normal weather are going to happen more often." Do you think your city has good air quality? Definitely Somewhat Depends on the time of year Not at all Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. According to Climate Central, the "annual frequency of high tide flooding in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2000 — and is projected to more than triple again by 2050 as sea levels continue to rise." Around 30% of Americans live near a coastline, foregrounding an imminent need to identify accessible flood mitigation strategies and make coastal communities more resilient. Actions like installing solar panels are one way to ensure your home is more resilient in the face of natural disasters that could knock out infrastructure — and EnergySage not only offers quotes from trusted local installers, but can also save consumers up to $10,000 on new solar installations. Getting your power from the sun also helps to avoid contributing to the type of pollution that leads to increasing global temperatures. At the study's conclusion, researchers cited previously published findings that supported nature-based flood defenses for both efficacy and costs. They noted that structural properties like vegetation "could reduce levee investment cost by $320 billion on a global scale," adding that previous research "suggests that restoring marsh habitat in front of seawalls" could be far less costly than raising seawalls. "Horizontal levees could be a less expensive way to reduce the risk of levee failure with climate change, as opposed to increasing the height of the levees themselves," Taylor-Burns remarked. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
