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Marta Hernandez

Professor B. Holly

English 101

May 03, 2019

How Do we Help Homeless College Students?

How do we help homeless college students? Some of the institutions need to provide job

training and placement to help develop their life. The training can make a difference and offer an

opportunity for work, education, and success in life. Getting a job would not only give the

students something to do outside of class, but they can also find a decent place to live, and it will

also give then a source of income. Through government programs, job training, education, and

psychological help, college students can overcome homelessness and be successful.

First, the way to help the homeless college student is to let them know about all the

different social services that exist in the community where they live. These include food stamps

and they give them a cash from a welfare program in this social community. They need to call,

make an appointment and go fill the form and bring some of their legal paper to prove they are

the right person applying for housing. Housing authority is part of section 8; it follows the same

procedure as the welfare program, and homeless college students need to apply for it. The

website for the Community Development Commission/Housing Authority of the County of Los

Angeles states that the Homeless Incentive Program (HIP) “offers monetary incentives to

encourage landlords to rent their available units to HACoLA's homeless Section 8 voucher

holders” (hacola.org). It takes a while but it can be faster depending on their necessity. Another

fast help for living is the shelters, for those who are outside of college campus. In college, they

have access to financial aid, which they can use to have their classes paid. The institution also
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gives some cash dependent of their economic situation. Another aids are the grant which gives

cash which students do not have to pay back. The document “Federal Student Aid and Homeless

Youth” indicates that students should contact the “director of an emergency shelter or

transitional housing program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban

Development” if they become homeless (student aid.ed.gov). Other aids include epos, which

helps pay the books and counseling, and the col-work office which helps to pay for books, give

cash, clothes, food, and other things. For with the welfare program depending of their income

situation they provide with cash and food stamps, and with a House Authority they give them a

brochure for some amount of money to cover part of the rent with even though it is take a while

but you need to persist until you get it.

Second, job training is important for helping college students find something to work for.

There are some institutions which provide a job placement, but they need someone who already

has the knowledge of the kind the job the company does. For example: The best help for the

homeless college students is to help the students to find employment so they can begin to build

that safety net for them. That will make them more successful in their career, more productive

people in our society, and also make them feel safer, more secure, and build their higher self-

esteem. This will make them a good social person who can be good in society.

Third, education can help them to find a job that they can use. Their skills can be

improved and this can earn them money to buy or pay their own things, so that it is easier for

them to rent a place where they can have a decent way of living. For example, in every

institution there is Financial Aid, Cal Grand, Ops, etc. According to the Chrysalist organization,

which helps the homeless, university students from USC is not a profit organization (L.A USC).

USC helps students find a job to reduce the homelessness in LA County (Clay). The article
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continues, stating that the USC Join Educational Project in L.A estimates 58,000 people

experiencing homelessness (Clay). For example, of all statistics they find that 23 percent

homelessness went up 2017 over 2016, and 26 percent increase up folks in RVs or encampments

in 2017 over 2016 (Clay). These are the general homelessness problems in L.A, including many

students which are going to be the future of this country.

Finally, there are many reasons the homeless students cannot be successful in college.

The problem for the youth sometimes is their parents do not teach them how to search for better

ways to survive in life, or training them how to see life in successful ways to live. Sometimes

parents by their own do not know how, or it does not matter to them, or lack responsibility as a

family. So, some of these homeless students are in foster homes, or sometimes the youth

becomes homeless because they are abused by their own parents so they run away from home, or

are physically abused, mentally abused, sexually abused, and this somehow cause them trauma in

their life. They are looking for a place or someone who can understand them, guide them in a

better way. Sometimes the lack of information on the sources, and a good guide makes their lives

harder, because some of them are shy or they do not know how to handle the problems in the

life. Then, if they are out from their foster homes, they need to have a letter to prove them as

homeless. Sometime they are afraid to ask for help because in their mind they think they are

going to return where they belong, to be abused with their family in physical or sexual way,

suffer anxiety, addictions, or even worse, go to the jail. For example: If they run away when the

police found them, they put back either with their family, foster home or other places they used

to stay at.
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In conclusion, how do we help homeless college students in a different way is a matter of

only giving them a good guide and good information about all the sources that exist now days,

and let them know where the social community places are and guide them a good road map with

information. After all, the way to help homeless college students is to help them find government

programs, job training, education, and psychological treatment. So that makes it easier, and they

only need to do some research to be able to find it. With the use of electronics, life has become

more comfortable and less complicated.

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Works Cited

Clay, Joanna. “USC Students Help Homeless Get Job-Ready through Volunteer Initiative.” USC

News, 30 Mar. 2018, news.usc.edu/139899/jobs-for-homeless-usc-students-help-

homeless-get-job-ready/.

Gupton, Jarrett T. Campus of Opportunity: A Qualitative Analysis of Homeless Students in

Community College. Community College Review, Vol. 45, Issue 3First, 29 March 2017,

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091552117700475

Gupton, Jarrett. “Challenges Homeless Students Face in Higher Education.” CEHD Vision 2020,

16 Nov. 2016, cehdvision2020.umn.edu/blog/homeless-students-higher-education/.

Obradovic, Monica. "Homeless college students seek shelter in extreme cold." UWIRE Text, 6

Feb.2019, p.1.AcademicOneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A572825148/AONE?u=lavc_main&sid=AONE&xid

=6ae5c3af. Accessed 15 Mar. 2019.

Federal Student Aid | StudentAid.gov. www.2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/foster-care/youth-

transsition-toolkit.pdf.