Rachel, a Homeless Student

This past week, I began a dialogue with a student who has been homeless for almost three weeks. She is an undergrad student at a university in Chicago. This person was introduced to me through a friend and wishes to remain anonymous.

Rachel, as this student will be known, broke up with her boyfriend about three weeks ago. Her boyfriend also happened to be her roommate at the time. Needless to say, relations between them have ceased and they are no longer speaking to one another. Rachel now lives out of her car, sometimes staying the night at friends’ apartments.

“I never really thought this would happen,” she begins. “I only have a few more weeks of class and then I am going to stay with my parents in Kentucky” until next semester “when I hope to have another apartment.”  For now, though, she feels she needs to stay in Chicago so that she can finish out the semester. She has been spending most of her time on campus, usually at the library. At night, she sleeps in her car in a parking garage, where she “feels safer,” but more often she will hunker down for the night on a side street near campus. Sometimes, she is able to stay with a friend. When I asked if she had sought out help, she explained that only her closest friends are aware of the situation and that it would be “too embarrassing” to involve anyone else. She did mention, however, that if the problem were more permanent, then she might seek help from those outside her closest circle of friends.

She let me look in her car, which is filled with all of her things. She informed me that most of her stuff, though, is at her parent’s place in Kentucky. She made “a trip down there a few weeks ago when this first happened.”

I asked how this situation has affected her studies and she admits that it has been difficult. She doesn’t know if this is just because she is sleeping in her car or because she just recently broke up with her boyfriend. “It is probably a mixture of the two,” she admits. She has not discussed her situation with any of her professors. Rachel feels she is doing well and can “make it” until the end of the semester. She tries not to compare her situation to others who might “have to live this kind of a life” on a more permanent basis, but she acknowledges that it is tough. For instance, when she sleeps in her car, not only is it uncomfortable, which is something many of us likely think about, but she has nowhere to plug in her phone, which is something I would bet is something hardly anyone thinks about. So she has to make sure it is charged before she goes to sleep because her phone also serves as her alarm clock.

When she is not at friend’s house, she usually finds herself on campus, either really earlier for class, in a hallway somewhere reading or on her phone. She showers at the gym on campus and thus has been forced to adjust her schedule to when this facility opens and closes. Sometimes she is able to “freshen up at a friend’s” place. When she is looking to settle in for the night, she will usually park her car near an IHOP, or 24-hour restaurant, so that she has access to a bathroom. Asked how she would react if her classmates found out, she said, “I would be mortified… I’m sure they would want to help, or probably wouldn’t even care, but who would ever want people knowing that they’re sleeping in a car?”

Rachel’s situation, as she pointed out, is only for a little while. She has arrangements to live with her parents in a few weeks when classes end. But her situation highlights the fact that homeless students do not want to be found. They may want help, but they do not want it if it means others have to find out about their situation. I would imagine this applies to students who are homeless for longer periods of time as well. As a future higher education practitioner, it will be important to keep this in mind. It will be important for me to let the students know that they can come to me and I will help them with any situation.