Goldrick-Rab thinks schools can start by keeping dining halls and dorms open over breaks. “It’s just not true.”Īcknowledging this is one thing.

“We continue to think that everybody’s 18 years old with 2.0 parents and some 1.0 sibling helping them go to school and bringing them care packages of groceries,” said Goldrick-Rab. And many are stretched thin as they try to juggle life and the pursuit of a degree. Many college students are raising kids, working - or both, she says. Only 13 percent of students live on campus. Those statistics may shock people who associate college with privilege, but Goldrick-Rab says the popular understanding of college life conflicts sharply with reality. More than a third identify themselves as “housing insecure,” a label that captures students who struggle to pay rent or have to move frequently. “It’s because they want them to graduate.” Poverty on campusĪbout one-tenth of college students say they’re homeless, according to Goldrick-Rab’s research. “It’s not because colleges are becoming social service agencies and trying to become the parents of these students,” said Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher-education policy at Temple University. It’s also part of a nascent movement among advocates and some college administrators to strengthen the campus safety net for students who lack stable housing or steady access to food.

Promise Program students make up a sliver of West Chester’s 17,500-student body, but the program has grown quickly - from about 25 students last year to 55 this year. “If these benefits weren’t here for me, I wouldn’t have been able to stay,” said Hill. Through the program, West Chester provides year-round housing, small scholarships, social opportunities, and extra guidance to some of its most vulnerable students. They’re part of the Promise Program, a pioneering initiative for students who are homeless or exiting the foster care system. Hill and 27 other West Chester students will remain on campus this winter break. “This is literally the first time I’m, like, safe.” “This is the first time in my life I don’t have to worry about where I’m gonna live or if I’m gonna be living in a house with someone who might rape or hurt me,” she said. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor

West chester university pa program