06/12/2026
Sleeping in a bathtub before freshman year, navigating dorm closures over breaks, waiting until the last possible day to know whether housing would make an exception, and eventually renting “the coat closet under my friends’ staircase” just to keep going. In a new Op-Ed for Today , Scholar Harper shares what it took to stay enrolled in college while experiencing homelessness. 🔗 https://youthtoday.org/2026/05/lived-coat-closet-stay-college
“I had no family support and no place to live.”
This is the reality too many students are carrying quietly. Public schools identified more than 1.5 million children and youth experiencing homelessness in 2023–2024, and our higher education research with Trellis Strategies shows how hidden this crisis remains in college: 73% of students experiencing homelessness had moved in with others because of financial problems, 50% had couch surfed, but only 21% said they had been homeless when asked directly.
Harper’s story is a powerful reminder that students should not have to depend on one professor, one exception, or one mentor knowing how to navigate the system.
“Without this support, I think I would’ve dropped out of college.”
We are proud to say that Harper very recently secured stable housing. Read Harper’s full Op-Ed in Youth Today, and learn why higher education liaisons, year-round housing access, and policies that bend before students break are urgently needed. 🔗 https://youthtoday.org/2026/05/lived-coat-closet-stay-college
