A Texas teacher has gone public about the struggles of living on a modest salary, revealing a series of “mistakes and misfortune” and massive debts that forced her to sleep in her car.
Bill Atkinson, who earns $54,000 a year, has been shining a light on teacher pay issues by sharing his story on TikTok, in the media and through a GoFundMe fundraiser that has raised more than $18,000.
And since disclosing his plight, he's spent the summer living in his car before getting a room through a rental agency. According to Good Morning America.
The educator said on his GoFundMe page that he started the fundraising effort to repair his bad credit, which had prevented him from renting an apartment or subsidized housing in the Austin area.
“Through mistakes and bad luck, my debt has gotten to the point where I can no longer afford to pay rent and pay off my debts,” Atkinson said, “and I can't get approved for a place to live on my salary, and I can't get approved for subsidized housing because I'm single and make too much.”
“For now, I'm continuing to teach and live out of my car, which is the best I can do right now.”
On one TikTok Title video In a post titled “Day 35 in my car. GoFundMe update!”, Atkinson said that although she is living in her car, “it's not in too bad a situation” and that she plans to completely repair her car's air conditioning system.
He said he needed to pay off his student debt to unlock his transcript, adding that his total debt, not including car and student loans, was $13,564.
“It was a big step for me,” said Atkinson, who currently teaches fourth grade at NYOS Charter School. Good Morning America He couldn't afford rent on his salary and began living out of his car during the summer.
“No matter how much I borrowed or cut back, it was impossible to pay off because I didn't have enough income to pay the rent. I was used to living payday to payday and didn't have the savings to pay a few months' rent,” Atkinson said. “So I tried to look for a place. [but I] I was struggling to find a home I could afford on my own.”
Now that she has a roof over her head, Atkinson told GMA she hopes her story can help raise awareness about teacher pay.
“No teacher wants a mansion,” he says. “We want to pay our bills and have decent housing, and if you’re in your 30s and single, you want a place to live without roommates. [and be able to] “Buy some food.”
