How a psychology and history student affords to live in Halifax 

Malachai Montalbetti sits on his bed in his Halifax apartment, a toothpick in his mouth and his calico cat at his side. Montalbetti looks at a painting of this same calico cat on his bedroom wall.

“This is my girlfriend,” he says. “She did this for me.”

Montalbetti is a third-year psychology and history major, with a minor in economics at Dalhousie University. When he isn’t busy working or studying, he enjoys going to the gym, reading and cooking. 

While Montalbetti says cooking is hard on his pockets, he gets some relief from one of his jobs. When he works a full eight-hour shift, he receives a lunch and brings dinner back home. 

“That softens the blow a lot.”

Aside from the staff meals, Montalbetti spends about $150 to $200 a month on groceries and can’t afford to eat out.

“Subway is like an event for me,” he says. 

Over the past summer, Montalbetti earned roughly $3,500 per month working a full-time job at a local waterfront food stand and part-time at the mall. 

At the end of the summer, Montalbetti was laid off from his part-time job. Then, at the start of the school year, his full-time employer cut his hours to part-time.

In the past two weeks, he hasn’t been scheduled for any shifts. He is currently making around $200-$400 a month, plus tips.

With the end of the summer season , Montalbetti will begin a new seasonal position at the mall this month. 

Montalbetti lives in an apartment in Halifax’s South End and splits the $3,000 rent evenly between his two roommates. Utilities are included in their rent. 

His annual tuition is around $8,000. Montalbetti receives a bursary from Dalhousie due to his academic performance, but pays the majority of his tuition out of pocket or with student loans. 

He says the funds he receives from student aid are not enough to support him.. 

“They basically just cover rent and tuition,” says Montalbetti. “Pretty much everything else I have to supplement [myself].” 

Montalbetti finds the rent prices in Halifax to be “crazy” and says there is definitely an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, but it feels hard to do something about it.  

“There’s a lot of meaningful change that needs to be done, but it’s all happening really slowly.” 

“It’s like ‘Cool, I might be dead in 10 years.’”