House poor on $1m a year

By A. Ready | December 6, 2010 - 9:28AM

Over on StreetEasy a poster complains that compared to his kid's private school crowd, he is feeling house poor on a million dollar "middle class" salary. Keeping up with the Joneses is never easy, but if you are a valued professor at Columbia U., the administration may make it a bit easier for you. An UrbanBaby poster notes, "[f]air or not, my husband teaches in the law school and they bought us our apt (they own it). It's part of the compensation package." (For lesser mortals such as English professors, the golden handcuffs are said to consist of subsidized rentals.) Before the green eye of envy overcomes you, consider this remark: "CU is super dysfunctional--housing is one of the only nice things about it, as a workplace." (StreetEasy.com; UrbanBaby.com)

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