Am I being cold and selfish, or is my friend overreacting?

I’ll try to lay this out in the least complicated way possible.

My friend, Mike, who I’ve been really good friends with for 6 years, is miserable in WV and I totally understand because neither of us belong(ed) there. He visited me over spring break and made the decision that he wants to move here. I’ve been encouraging him to do so, which would be a win-win, he’d be happier and I’d have my best friend nearby.

When he came to visit, he paid for a lot of things to ensure we both had a good time. I’ve been working for my mom, but I can’t get ahead cash-wise because I had a car accident, she paid for it, and now I’m working it off. I’ve been looking for a job, but am having difficulties.

In the discussion about Mike moving here, we weren’t discussing specifics, so in my mind, I thought he could find a roommate situation. I have free rent until the end of the year—I live with my cousin in exchange for housework and such—and the Bay Area is expensive. In addition, with my expensive auto body-work indentured servitude, I am leaving at the end of May to go work for my mom for 2½ months, which makes finding a job harder and I will likely have no money when I return.

Somewhere along the line, Mike took my encouragement to mean that I wanted to room with him. He was so gung-ho that I kind of was like, Oh yeah, that’d be cool without really thinking about it. Now that I have, I realize I don’t think I can pull it off.

I think that I should try to get back in school, live here free for the rest of the year, work, and try to get back on my feet. I’ve been severely broke and miserable because of it for about a year and a half and the thought of being a real person again is really appealing.

I told Mike this tonight and he blew up and completely flipped out on me. He said I’ve screwed him, that he’s arranged his school schedule to work more to have enough money to move out here, that he has a limited window to make a move after his lease is up, that I’m only thinking of myself, that by doing this I’m making things much harder than they need be, that I’m scared, amongst other things. In short, he’s really pissed at me and has basically made it sound like he no longer wants to be friends.

I’m trying to understand why he feels so strongly, but I can’t help feeling like he’s completely overreacting. I told him that I really want him to come here, that I would help him however I could.. just that I am trying to be reasonable and yes, to think of myself for once, considering I usually screw myself trying to make everyone else happy and end up making poor choices that get me nowhere.

I just can’t relate to the level of anger and outrage he’s displaying toward me.. He is being somewhat nasty and keeps saying things like ‘have a nice life’ and ‘don’t worry about it, it’s not your concern anymore’, like that’s the end? I don’t understand what the difference is between his rooming with me or with someone else, as long as he’s in a place that makes him happy. Am I being cold and selfish, or is he overreacting?