Groups step up to prevent student homelessness during academic breaks
Without her full-ride scholarship to Cal State San Bernardino, third-year sociology student Syerra Gardner may have been unable to pursue higher education altogether.
“I knew that I had to graduate high school, but I just didn’t know what I wanted to do after,” said Gardner, who learned about the scholarship from a high school counselor while living in a homeless shelter. “She was just explaining all these great things that I’m able to apply for to be able to make a life for myself, and I took the
But Gardner could have faced homelessness again if it wasn’t for programs and scholarships that make it possible for her to stay in the dorms over winter and summer breaks. She lives in campus dorms, a cost that her scholarship covers during the school year, where she typically has access to the school’s meal plans. During academic breaks, she largely relies on canned food, her campus food pantry, or CalFresh, the state’s food benefits program.
Even if colleges have empty dorm rooms for the winter and summer breaks, students who need places to live have to come up with the money to cover the dorm room and board costs.
Without a safe family home to rely on, Gardner is left to fend for herself during those academic breaks. For students like her who can’t afford the housing and living costs, that’s where organizations play a crucial role, like GiveBack, which awarded Gardner the full-ride scholarship, , a nonprofit working to end homelessness through policy advocacy and funding for students, and Guardian Scholars, a chapter-based organization on college campuses that helps support former foster and homeless youth.
Such support for students like Gardner is life-changing. But, getting the help can be all-consuming.
When the onus is placed on off-campus organizations or the students themselves to seek resources that will cover the cost between academic breaks, the result is an exhausting, stressful focus on housing and food security rather than focusing on doing well in school.
Students who leave school or don’t do well in class are often dealing with other distractions like their living arrangements, said Bryan Spencer, assistant director of the Education Opportunity Program at San Diego State University, which operates their campus Guardian Scholars. “If we can eliminate or reduce those barriers as much as possible, it really gives every student the best opportunity to focus on their academics, their career transitions, and getting involved on campus.”
As such, their Guardian Scholars program has created a unique housing solution by partnering with the university and the San Diego Housing Commission, which is operated by the city’s Department of Urban and Housing Development. When students apply to the California State University system and self-identify as current or former foster youth, under legal guardianship, or unaccompanied minors, the Guardian Scholars staff emails them separately with a program application. Students can then receive a housing scholarship, where the amount depends on several factors, such as whether they live on or off campus, the size of their housing unit and whether they have roommates.
Students who live on campus may sign a housing contract for year-round housing that includes winter and summer breaks. If they live off campus, the housing scholarship will set up automatic monthly payments to the landlord for the duration of the housing contract.
As long as the student remains enrolled in classes, they do not have to worry about their housing.
“The housing award is a game changer,” said Spencer, who has worked on the San Diego campus since 2006. Before the housing award was implemented, Spencer and his colleagues would often help support students in crisis housing situations. Typically, before the winter and summer breaks, students would share that they would soon have to couch-surf or have nowhere to live, and staff would step in to find housing or funding for them.
Now, six years later, he can’t recall any student facing a similar housing crisis.
The team hopes the housing support model can be replicated across California. For campuses that might not yet be able to, advocates suggest using available resources in creative ways.
“It is difficult for schools to intercede and provide year-round comprehensive support on students’ behalf, but I think that there are resources and opportunities that exist on campus that could benefit these students,” said Jordyn Roark, director of youth leadership and scholarships at SchoolHouse Connection.
For example, Roark continued, campuses often hire students as orientation leaders to help sign up incoming freshmen for classes and to welcome them onto campus. These orientation sessions are often on a staggered schedule to keep the orientation groups smaller, and they may include staying on the campus for a few days.
“Maybe doing some targeted outreach to students that need housing and seeing if they’re interested in participating as an orientation leader would provide them with employment during the summer, as well as housing,” she said.
To help students, SchoolHouse Connection offers $2,000 scholarships and other emergency funding.
“We give it to them in the way that they feel would most benefit them. We try to be as unrestricted as possible,” said Roark. “The flexibility with funding ensures that students can apply it toward any living expense, such as housing, a laptop, a cellphone or meals.”
Securing stable housing through summer and winter breaks can sometimes make or break a student’s ability to graduate from college, according to advocates