Homeless and Hidden: The Emerging Awareness of Students Experiencing Homelessness in College

Background and Purpose: Research on youth who experience homelessness and food insecurity is often focused on street living youth; however, awareness of housing stability and food security on college campuses is slowly emerging.  Within college environments, homeless youth are invisible as youth are not required to identify themselves, and often university staff are not trained to seek them.  Therefore, the majority of homeless youth go undetected and unsupported in college environments.  This presentation provides a study of a state university system of 23 campuses.  It brings new knowledge to the understudied area of approaches to mitigate the impact of homelessness and food insecurity on university students.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was utilized for this study of 23 university campuses, including open-ended qualitative interviews with staff, faculty, and administrators (N=92), focus groups with staff, faculty and administrators (N=23), and survey results from staff, faculty and administrators (N=99).  Further, focus groups and interviews were conducted with the students (N=16) who identified as housing unstable and/or food insecure.  Finally, a document analysis was conducted to explore the extent of programs and services advertised in campus websites and student support service documents of programs to address food security, housing stability, and emergency funds for students.  All of the qualitative data were analyzed in two coding cycles to draw out subject matter to compare and contrast data in order to develop codes and themes. 

Results: Findings from this study show that university staff, faculty, and administrators estimated displaced students at 8.7%; however, student results showed a higher population (12%).  Eleven campuses had programs to address food insecurity ranging from small pantries to large food programs and services. One campus had a program directed at housing displacement.  Quite often, campus staff, faculty, and administrators focused on food provision, but found the issues of housing instability insurmountable. Five campuses incorporated students’ needs as a part of student success directives and the university mission; however, many campuses expressed aspirational thinking to support students restrained by actual or perceived institutional barriers.  Students who experienced housing instability reported high levels of stress and the need for single points of contact for services.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings from this study show the complexity of the college experience for youth who are homeless.  Though most campus staff, faculty, and administrators expressed aspirations to support the student population, many still struggle with implementing strategies to clearly understand the population and develop policies and practices to retain a student population that is largely hidden.  Meanwhile, students are actively attempting to persist despite barriers that are both within and outside of the university environment.  This statewide university system’s campuses are developing programs to support the needs of housing displaced students; however, a greater understanding of this student population, their experiences accessing and utilizing existing services, and their rates of retention is needed.