Raising the Bar for Homeless Students in Higher Ed

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The effects homelessness has on higher education is concerning, especially with how the pandemic limited job opportunities and access to resources like student housing, or on-site food banks, and the impact is still echoing. As the prices of things like tuition and housing increase exponentially, outpacing the median income by miles, these institutions need to step in and provide better and more consistent access to housing and other resources. Especially since minorities of all kinds are more likely to face homelessness. LGBT students, for example, are 9 percent more likely to face housing and other basic needs-based issues. Additionally, racial minorities face higher rates of homelessness than their white counterparts. As education institutions, especially of the higher education variety, focus on inclusion and helping more diverse people gain access and succeed in getting their degrees, the only way to do that is to meet these people where they are and fulfill their basic needs to help them succeed. 


To address this, many universities have made efforts to help their students. Locally, PSU and PCC both have food pantries accessible to all students so they know they at least have access to basics. But there is always more that can be done. Just making sure that these programs are well advertised enough for the people who need them to know about them is often a hurdle. Too often the people who really need the help don’t even know it’s there and end up losing out.  We also need to work on reducing the stigma of needing help in the first place so that students don’t refuse to ask for help just because they don’t want to let others know they are struggling.  College is hard enough without the extra burden of constantly worrying where your next meal is going to come from or where you are going to live once the term is over.  Without making sure there is a safety net for those less fortunate, college will become even more of an institution that is only available to those who are well off.  A more educated populace can contribute more to society, so it is in our interest to fund programs to make higher education more accessible to everyone who wants to attend.  


https://thefulcrum.us/civic-engagement-education/homeless-students


https://endhomelessness.org/blog/learning-without-a-home-will-a-housing-first-approach-work-on-campus/



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