According to The Sacramento Bee, the lack of affordable housing in Calif. is moving students like Alvin Prasad, a student at Sacramento State, to desperate measures. He began sleeping in his car when he was too tired to drive back to his parent's home in Modesto. “In winter, you have a blanket, sometimes it’s not warm enough,” he said. Some of the students at Sacramento State bailed out of the Bay area to escape the high cost of living but rents have soared in the capital as well.
Alexandra Lopez is more fortunate. She has an apartment and job, but a recent pay increase disqualified her for a CalFresh food subsidy. She’s among many California students who queue for free food at their campus pantry. “I had to use the money I made to keep a roof over my head. This is hard to experience.”
Going to college is tough for many students under normal circumstances. But for tens of thousands of young Californians today, it’s beyond difficult. It’s financially and physically perilous.
Faced with tuition escalation and fast-rising rents – particularly in Sacramento – higher-education students find themselves struggling to get a decent night’s sleep, find permanent shelter and put food in their stomach so they can focus enough in class to make it to graduation. Nearly 40 percent of Sacramento-area college students struggle to find affordable housing.
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