College students are gearing up to head back to campus, but for many in the Bay Area, finding a place to live has become a significant challenge. San Jose State University continues to be a popular college with increasing enrollment every year. It’s also in the heart of Silicon Valley, one of t he most expensive places to live in the country. “It feels like ‘The Hunger Games,’” San Jose State student Kyla Jimenez said. “That’s the best way I can describe it.” Kyla is a business major at San Jose State. Her twin Ren is studying communications at nearby Santa Clara University. They can’t find an affordable place to live in downtown San Jose. “We’ll kind of be in competition with families and other people that are just looking for housing as well,” Kyla said. “We’re also in competition with people that are looking in groups of like five or they’re willing to offer more than the asking price.” Kyla and Ren aren’t alone. Several other students expressed the same anxiety. Making It in the Bay 9 hours ago Bay Area residents more likely to own homes after leaving region, study finds San Francisco Jul 29 San Francisco rent report: 1- and 2-bedroom median rents hit record highs Kyla and Ren’s mom is a single parent in Fairfield, so the twins rely on financial aid to pay tuition and housing. “We’ve been touring a lot of two-bedrooms, a lot of three-bedrooms, and a lot of them are just super filthy, like disgusting almost,” Ren said. “A lot of mold is painted over.” On-campus housing is not an option for Kyla. It costs about $9,000 to $10,000 a semester at the campus village, with a meal plan. San Jose State said that price is actually not too bad. “We know this is an expensive housing market,” San Jose State spokesperson Michelle Smith McDonald said. “We are providing one of the best values in downtown in terms of all the things that students get in residential housing.” For a family with little income, the twins said they’re forced to look elsewhere. “It’s just super uncertain,” Kyla said. “I feel like the only word to describe it is cooked. I feel like we’re cooked. We’ve been looking since March.” Ren said they’ve been on edge as they constantly search for a place. “On our phones, on our laptops, checking our emails every day seeing if landlords are even considering our application,” she said. “A lot of it is just disappointment after disappointment.” ...read more read less