Hundreds of graduate students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have gone on an open-ended strike to protest the unaffordable costs of living on their low teaching salaries. The strikers are demanding a cost-of-living adjustment of $1,412 per month, which student educators say is necessary to avoid living on the brink of homelessness as they teach classes and provide essential work to keep the university running. A 2018 study comparing housing costs with household incomes found Santa Cruz was the least affordable place to live in the United States.