For many people college is a door to a better opportunity. But that opportunity doesn’t always come with a roof and four walls. In 2017 there were 32,000 homeless college students in the United States according to the US Department of Education.



Homelessness can take many forms: from students couch surfing with friends, to squatting in empty campus buildings at night, to living in a dedicated shelter.



“One of the guiding factors to homelessness is just bad luck," says Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of Higher Education policy at Temple University and a researcher on the issue of student homelessness.



“People who weren’t going to college before are going to college now”, Goldrick-Rab explained in an interview with CBS. “The problem is they are going to college and we didn’t build the support for them.”



So what is being done, if anything, to address the issue? We’ll ask our panel that very question on this episode of The Stream.



On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:

Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab @saragoldrickrab

Professor of Higher Education Policy, Temple University

saragoldrickrab.com



Barbara Duffield @SchoolHouseConn

Executive Director, Schoolhouse Connection

schoolhouseconnection.org



Dominique Coronel @DomCoronel_

Activist & student, DePaul University

instagram.com



Dae’Janae Day

Graduate, University of Maryland

sashabruce.org



Read more:



Many college students are on the brink of being homeless and hungry - MarketWatch

College program offers resources for homeless students - NPR



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