Addressing Student Poverty and Homelessness at KPU

The university and student association offer services to students in need
Joseph Keller, Web Editor

There are more post-secondary students at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and beyond who are at risk of homelessness than one might think. The ever increasing cost associated with gaining a post-secondary education can put many students in a precarious position where they might suddenly find themselves without a roof over their heads.

This reality has driven student organisations and university administration to search for ways to provide at-risk students with the means to meet their basic needs while they work on their education.

Kwantlen Student Association business representative John Shkurtaj has made learning more about the issue of student poverty and homelessness a focus of his recent work with the KSA. He’s been researching the facts of the issue and speaking to students who are struggling with their financial situations, and says that he personally knows a few students at KPU who have dealt with homelessness or have been at risk of becoming homeless.

“There’s an increasing number of students who are experiencing troubles financially because of the increasing cost of tuition and textbooks, and as the new semester starts, students have to spend money on these,” says Shkurtaj. “That’s a whole lot of their savings and income that just disappears from them.”

Homelessness is not always visible. Shkurtaj says that homeless and and at-risk people do not necessarily resemble the commonly associated stereotypes, particularly when it comes to student homelessness. Someone enrolled at KPU may well have a classmate who is homeless and never know it. Many students without a permanent place to live manage to avoid sleeping on the streets by couchsurfing with friends and relatives, while some resort to living out of homeless shelters. These situations are not sustainable, however, and simply because a student is able to find shelter for one night doesn’t necessarily mean they will have it for the next night.

Shkurtaj also says that many students find themselves in unreliable renting situations, moving rapidly from place to place. Through his research, he has found that anyone who is unable to maintain a consistent address for one year is typically at risk of becoming homeless, and that “there are a good number of students who are at risk of homelessness.”

The KSA offers services to students in need, and regularly holds events such as food and clothing drives. Perhaps the most elaborate student-led initiative is the KSA’s food hamper program, through which students are able to anonymously apply for up to two hampers each month through the KSA website. Recipients are then set up with a locker number and combination where they can pick up their food rations. Shkurtaj says that 20 to 25 students receive this aid each month.

There are resources offered by the university and the federal and provincial governments as well. The Awards and Financial Assistance Office deals regularly with students in financial crisis and works to help these students make ends meet while studying. KPU Senior Director of Student Affairs Josh Mitchell oversees these efforts.

“We do regularly see students coming in enquiring about the availability of emergency funding,” says Mitchell. “It’s something that we see happening weekly in our offices.”

Mitchell says students find themselves coming to the office for help under a variety of circumstances. It could be the sudden loss of a job, difficulty adjusting to the cost of living in Metro Vancouver after a recent move to the region, or hardship associated with living on their own for the first time.

“We certainly do see more extreme situations as well, whether it’s spousal abuse or other life circumstances that come out of the blue, [such as] a sudden accident that now prevents them from working,” says Mitchell.

Students seeking emergency assistance can file a self-declaration of need and sit down with a KPU financial aid officer who will assess the student’s needs measured against income resources. In the most extreme cases of student need, assistance can sometimes be offered on the same day the student files the declaration.

In other cases the Awards and Financial Assistance Office will guide students in applying for outside awards and bursaries. Mitchell says that, on a yearly basis, KPU students access around $22 million in government funding and grants.

There are also KPU awards, as well as hundreds of scholarships available from outside donors to help mitigate the cost of tuition, although these are often program-specific and tied to academic achievement.

These resources are some of the best options for students struggling financially. The Awards and Financial Assistance Office encourages students who are at risk of homelessness to explore their options with a financial aid officer.

“We’re looking at income sources coming in and what the student is facing in terms of regular and ongoing expenses as part of their monthly budget and the difference between those two things,” says Mitchell. “When there is a case of unmet need we’re doing our best to try to fulfil as much of that as we can.”