What socio-economic class does CAIO belong to?

[Malloric]

Lower-middle, the socio drags up the economic.

By income, he's working poor. Graduate stipends are typically minimum wage. That part's simple enough. The second is socio. Most low-paying professional jobs (public defender, college lecturer) are considered of higher standing despite the fact that the pay isn't there. However, more than likely he'll never end up as a tenured professor. Partly that's a simple numbers game. Secondly, his background and social awkwardness will mean he'll cap out teaching at a community college as a lecturer for many years, a position that entails less than half the pay of a tenured professor at a four-year university, and that in turn pays less than most people with masters degrees do. The fact that he's five years into a doctoral degree and still not near completion is a further hurdle. Academic advancement is driven by the ability to be published, something he obviously struggles at. A community college instructor is about as middle-class as you can get... ranks in there with police officers, teachers, and nurses. Although he's not that yet, it still drags him up in socioeconomic standing. Poor + path to middle-class = lower middle-class.