Student who can't afford Oxford's sky-high rent crowdfunds so she can live in campervan
A student who is the first person from her school to go to Oxford University is crowdfunding so she can live in a campervan.
English Literature student Chloe Jacobs has chosen to defer her final year after months of anxiety and stress over sky-high rent prices. She is now appealing for help to buy a campervan and has raised more than £1,300. Chloe, 22, said: “Within a day of setting up the GoFundMe, I’d reached my £500 target so I put it up to £1,000 and it’s gone past £1,300.” The first person from her family to go to university, Chloe is the first pupil from Langley Academy, Slough, to go to Oxford or Cambridge.
She said: “At the end of my first term in Oxford, my family in Slough was told they would be evicted due to the financial trouble they found themselves in.
“At Easter, I went back to essentially pack up my home for storage while my family was evicted and put into a hostel for six weeks.”
Her family are now housed but their new home does not have a room for Chloe, who has worked numerous jobs including nasal spray testing and teaching in China.
She said: “This has been going on for three years now. During the pandemic I went home to be with family while everyone was self-isolating and spent six months living in my living room surrounded by boxes.”
She added: “I’m so stressed out I’m practically having an anxiety attack every day.”
Chloe is a big fan of tiny homes and campervans and hopes to eventually own what she calls a “stealth van”. She says she would be happy with an average van, but inside she hopes to create a cosy-looking living area that could be used as transportation – providing she passes her driving test.