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Anthony Mejia

Professor Batty

English 101

28 May 2019

The Struggle for success at a community college for students who are homeless

Imagine for a day, coming out of your everyday class, the day has just ended and you're

ready to go home. However, in this imaginative day you don't have a home to go to. Simple little

things such as writing a paper for an english class or just doing homework isn't that simple to do,

since most students have wifi and own a computer which makes their homework and paper easy

to do because, most professors require students to turn in their homework or essays online. This

however can be challenging for students who are homeless. Yes there is the school library that

allows students to have access to free internet but, for some of these students they probably have

more than one job to pay any student fees, car payments, and to hopefully get a meal for the day.

This may sound outrageous to some people, no way this can be a reality but, unfortunately it is.

There are a handful of college students where some may call this imaginative day a nightmare, to

these students who are homeless, it is their reality. In fact “one out of five students have

surveyed that they have been homeless within the last twelve months”(The Times Editorial

Board).So in what ways can we help our fellow students achieve success in their college careers?

Luckily for our fellow students there is some assistance that is in the making “A new bill

in the legislature AB 302,... ​It would require community colleges to allow homeless students

who are living in vehicles to park overnight in campus parking facilities. The students would

have to be enrolled in classes and in good standing at the college.” ​(The Times Editorial Board).
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This would be a big help for the students who live in their vehicles. In the article by the LA times

questions how would all of this work if it became a reality.”​Would the students have to move

their cars out every morning — and if not, is there a risk the parking lots would become

permanent encampments? Would the law guarantee space only for students living in their cars or

could homeless students also sleep in the parking lots in tents?...What kind of security will all of

this require?”(The Times Editorial Board).

This paper agrees with the arguments and concerns said by the LA Times. However this

paper also argues that the parking lot facilities should only be for students who own and live in

their vehicle’s otherwise, the parking lot would turn into some sort of camp. As for security,

since almost every college have a campus sheriff on duty, if this new legislature where to get

passed, the sheriffs can patrol the parking facilities overnight when the students are sleeping in

their cars, which will hopefully remove the thought of not being safe from students. Even if this

new bill became a reality, it really doesn't do much for how students can achieve better success

in school, it only eliminates the concern of where is the student going to sleep for that night.

After all the, new bill only qualifies students who basically have good grades, those homeless

students who don’t really have time in their hands are asked out. College isn't easy, especially

since most work is done online as mentioned in the introduction.

Even though college libraries have computers for students to use to complete their

homework or any work that needs to get done, homeless students don't get the luxury of having

time on their side. On top of that college is all about money, most of the things such as books and

even scantrons aren't free. Sure some may say that the student should apply for financial aid but

how can a student provide the required information if the student is homeless? An article by
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jarrett gupton explains how explains the difficulty of when homeless students apply for financial

aid “​..applying for financial aid and scholarships is difficult. Most financial aid applications

don’t identify them as any different than a student from a low-income home. If they are outside

the foster care system, they must write a letter that verifies them as homeless.”(Gupton). This can

be a nuisance because financial aid such as fafsa require students to put in their parents tax

information just to see if the student qualifies, most homeless students probably don't even speak

to their families most likely due to the fear of being looked down upon from their family

“Homeless students can feel alienated from their peers because the familial

relationships..”(Gupton).

Not only do the students have to stress about school work but, they also have to stress

about where will they sleep for the night, any financial debts, and most importantly, graduating

from college. Luckily we already have a solution for the question of where the student is going to

sleep for the night, if that even becomes a reality. So how can help students achieve success in

college? Since money seems to be the main problem, students are most likely working two jobs

just to pay for any college fees, this paper suggests that the solution for this is, for all

community colleges to just be free, with the exception of book fees. If community colleges were

free, money wouldn't be an issue thus, hopefully allowing students to have only one job and

giving the student more time to dedicate towards school.

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Works cited

Cohen, Deirdre. “Homelessness on Campus.” ​CBS News​, CBS Interactive, 20 Jan. 2019,
www.cbsnews.com/news/homelessness-on-campus-the-toughest-test-faced-by-tens-of-thousands
-of-college-students-in-america/.

Gupton, Jarret. “Challenges Homeless Students Face in Higher Education.” ​CEHD Vision
2020​, 16 Nov. 2016, cehdvision2020.umn.edu/blog/homeless-students-higher-education/.

The Times editorial board. “Why Not Let Homeless College Students Park in Campus
Lots?” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2019,
www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-campus-parking-homeless-20190225-story.html?outp
utType=amp​.