Like most UC Berkeley students, Alejandro Jimenez takes a full load of four courses. But he arranges his schedule as if he were taking a fifth.

He spends the extra time hunting for money.

“It’s incredibly stressful,” said Jimenez, a junior with a double major in anthropology and ethnic studies.

“It’s semester by semester. Day by day. A lot of my food, I get from the food bank. You’ve got to be creative. You’ve got to meet your needs in unconventional ways.”

Jimenez’s needs include about $19,000 a year for tuition, fees, health insurance, housing and books. Toss in food and other basics, and the cost of school approaches his mother’s yearly salary as a teaching assistant in San Jose: $24,000.

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