Research of Paul Toro and Corissa Carlson featured in Detroit Free Press
The research of Paul Toro and Corissa Carlson (Clinical Psychology Ph.D. candidate) was featured on the front page of the Detroit Free Press.
At Wayne State University, researchers last month finished an in-depth study of students who've been going to college while either literally homeless or "precariously housed" - defined as bouncing from one bed to another. Without trying to count all students in such straits, the WSU researchers posted queries on campus websites, offering to pay $20 or give extra college credit for each one -to two-hour interview.
They found 25 students who'd been truly homeless, and 25 others who were "precariously housed," at some time in the last year. "We found one guy who lived all year in a homeless shelter," said Paul Toro, a WSU professor of psychology. "Many of them are couch-surfing - going from one home to another, staying with a family member, getting kicked out, maybe staying with a friend, getting kicked out of there," Toro said. Despite the mountains of stress in their lives, homeless college students in the study were getting very good grades.
The researchers compared the 50 homeless or "precariously housed" students to 50 others who had stable housing but otherwise matched the first group in age, gender and race. Although the WSU study didn't try to count how many homeless students attend the university, national nonprofit groups that advocate for aid to homeless people used financial aid applications in 2013 to estimate the total number of homeless college students nationwide. The tally? More than 58,000. And that figure could be higher because many students are reluctant to admit that they lack reliable housing, according to the WSU researchers.
To some, it might seem far-fetched that a student could afford tuition, books, meals, perhaps even a car, yet lack the cash for housing. But escalating college costs, coupled with the job market's increasing demand for degrees has put swelling pressure on students from low-income families, forcing more of them into survival mode as they forgo dormitory charges and apartment rents, WSU Dean of Students David Strauss said. "I couldn't quantify it. But I will tell you, it's getting more frequent. Not a week goes by that I don't hear about a student who says, 'I don't have any money to live on,' " Strauss said.
WSU has a total enrollment of about 27,000, including about 18,000 undergraduates, "and many, many of our students put down an estimated family contribution of zero (dollars) on their financial aid forms," Strauss said. "They may really desperately want to go to college and get the degree, but they just don't have a solid place to live," he said.