Blog 8

This week’s readings were about social economic status in higher education. The articles were about the difficulty of students in lower social economic position. They were divided into three sections homeless, working poor, and non working poor.  The articles were filled with statistics about each group and also provided real life examples of students in the lower quartile in higher education.

The first two articles that I read were about poverty and higher education. The authors provided plenty of stats about the individuals in the lower quartile of economic stability in relation to attendance and completion of higher education. The numbers were scary! One of the article reveals that students in poor conditions have no inspiration to receive a college degree. In many cases they hope to get at best some high school education, even more alarming is that their parents feel the same way. When poor individuals do attend school they often do not complete their schooling, because of lack of support and resources.

The last article that I read was about homeless students in higher education. The author points out that there are different categories of homeless people. Most of us consider homeless people to be beggars that live in the streets but the reality is that homelessness is much more complex than the stigma that our society has placed on the matter. There are families that live in shelters, some of those shelters provide residency until the tenants could find something permanent, others are day to day bedding that is not guaranteed, there are couch hoppers, families that live with many people or other families in a home designed for a small family, and people who live in hotels. The author argues that distinguishing between each category is imperative for two reasons; firstly, so that entities who assist students in each category will be better equipped to do so, and secondly, to cease from repelling students from receiving support because of the unapealing title of “homeless” that they may not identify with, even though they may fit in one of the categories, or simply to prevent shame.

I really enjoyed the readings for this week because they were informative and very relatable to me. The Homeless article provided so much insight into a world that is neglected. There are many students who experience the difficulty of fighting to attain an education that could give them a better life while facing instability. The story about the student who had to make accommodations to have a place to live in as her semester came to an end was a tear jerker. I can’t imagine the added anxiety she faces around an already stressful time of year for a student, because of finals, to have something most of us take for granted.  The articles on poverty were so easy to relate to because I am poor. I find myself facing many similar obstacles that were mentioned in the text. Also understanding that people are working towards solutions to a tremendous problem gave me hope.