Education Is A Civil Right
The law has determined that homeless people have the same right to education,
from kindergarten to college, as any other demographic. To some, it would be
clear that the goal of financial aid should be to give the most aid to those
people most in need. However, most institutions refer to homeless as
“educationally unprepared,” or “not in-need” because of rate of educational
success, based upon income. These excuses that some institutions use divert
funds from those in need the most to those who could pay for college.
Not all
colleges are bound and determined to keep homeless or low-income students out of
their school. Most problems with financial aid are just poor management
decisions and poor communication skills of staff. The fact is that the training
for student workers is mediocre and is more of a likely cause. However, they
simply will not train them better because it is a good excuse for the gap
between the lowest income level and middle class students.
Don’t believe
it? Don’t take the word of a student who took two years and was denied residency
simply for being homeless. College of the Redwoods was audited by the Federal
government for suspicion of manipulation of the application process. (It is also
my experience that College of the Redwoods is commonly thought to hold ideals
against, “hippie dippies,” “tree huggers,” and even homeless students; they
openly admit they divert certain types of students to improve their academic
success rate.) Other colleges simply divert problem students in more subtle
ways.
A recent study cited by civilrights.org clearly describes how colleges
get around the law and how the government has failed to enforce current
regulations.
One of the ways is priority: there is not supposed to be any priority except
that those with the greatest financial need be served first. Applications are
filed on a first come first serve basis, while aid is given out based on need.
Yet priority at many schools is diverted to lower middle class students living
above poverty level with no disability who receive third-party scholarships.
Priority at some schools is taken away by studies of statistical academic
achievement by outside committees that say that academic success is linked to
quality of life. Of course this puts homeless people as the least academically
successful. Therefore they aren’t as “in-need” as middle-class or housed
students.
The colleges use this information with what I believe is a kind of
elitist discrimination, flagging the poorest or admittedly homeless for a lower
priority than someone with a car or a house. Not to mention having to verify any
indication that you have an income below poverty level which can take from four
weeks to an entire semester to process and can be given a lower priority for aid
as well.
These are just some of the ways a college can divert funds to more
“acceptable” students. A college can sabotage class registration by deleting
registration, dropping homeless students from a class, or even refusing
enrollment straight out. Because homelessness is not a protected classification
such as gender, race, or religion, colleges can ignore applicants who are
low-income.
Why would a college want to divert funding in the first place?
Well, first of all, a college gets more money from middle- to upper-class
students: they tend to be able to afford tuition in one lump sum, and will buy
more at school. They have an advantage of funding for the necessities needed to
perform efficiently. Federal financial aid only grants so much money no matter
what, and how much you get depends on the school’s decision. Secondly, some
college rankings for students have more to do with the income level of the
student body, how well their team does, or how many people they reject.
Wouldn’t better programs for homeless college students like those proposed by
homeless advocacy agencies be the best course of action? Wouldn’t that make
education easier for low-income students? Don’t we give out financial aid so
that low-income students can afford the outrageous price of a college education?
This is exactly what President Lyndon Banes Johnson and the Congress of 1965
intended, when they wrote Federal financial aid into law. Spoken was a solemn
promise: “Knowing then that college was closed to these children because they
were too poor, this nation could never rest, while the door to education was
closed. It is the obligation of your nation to permit and assist every child
born to receive all the education that he can take.
But if you say that it
doesn’t happen what about this: Why does a kid of 18 years of age, thrown out of
his parents house, have to wait til 24 to go to college? Why is there no
government-subsidized housing for low-income or homeless college students?
Why
are 100% of all students in campus housing required to have continuous rental
history and prohibited from being previously homeless?
You also must have up to
$10,000 up front for campus housing, according to student housing guides from
schools. Why is it common and recognized policy to automatically determine
homeless applicants without documentation along with state-issued identification
as out-of-state residents? Why is it policy to discourage homeless students from
attending school until they can financially support themselves?
Right now, we
homeless college students need your help to bring about positive proactive
change to stop this and get funds back to the students who need them the most
and stop overcompensating people who could pay for college.
We need to write a
bill that prioritizes financial aid to those with the most need, instead of
giving it to the students the college wants to give financial aid; to change the
way campus housing is given out and to better use government grant monies to
work best for these students. This way, we can bridge this gap of education that
is being broadened by the diversion of these funds to students who can afford
college.
I would like to meet in a conference to create such a bill. You can
contact me for more information or to volunteer.
Homeless people need
education the most. Homeless people like myself are not all drug addicts,
criminals, or mentally ill. Unfortunately, homelessness is not a protected
demographic classification, and is almost impossible to prove discrimination
based on income.
The unemployment rate only counts those currently receiving
unemployment, and to be homeless you have to be receiving some kind of
government aid through an organization. So the bureaucratic decision is instead
of telling the public that there is a massive housing shortage, that
globalization has made entry-level labor all but disappear. That there are more
homeless people and the cost of living is not only at an all time high, it is
crippling our social service agencies with a massive influx of new clients. That
the people who have nothing don’t support our economy, or national identity,
therefore don’t deserve these government funds.
This is a common thought about
homeless people.
The content of a person’s character has less to do with
circumstance, demographics, or property than an ant has to do with the
manufacture of chocolate, but like the ant, it always find a way in.
Call
Senator Boxer: Tell her you want to prioritize financial aid and make the funds
meet the people that need them the most:
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm
112 Hart Senate Office
Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
202.224.3553
Call the Capitol switchboard
toll free at 1.888.818.6641
You have no excuses!
Make sure to use this
petition to contact the
Secretary of Education:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/999544591
If you need more
information for getting into college, I will help anyone looking to go to
school. E-mail me: tobynixon@yahoo.com
By Toby Nixon
Toby Nixon is a volunteer
with the Coalition on Homelessness Civil Rights project.
Toby