Aid staff reachs out to homeless students at WU
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 10:00PM By Monica Kreber
Out of the 7,137 applications Winthrop has received for the school year, eight applicants have answered as being “unaccompanied youth” or “at risk at being homeless.”
Of those eight applicants, six of them are currently enrolled at Winthrop this semester. Homeless students represent less than one percent of Winthrop’s population.
Director of Financial Aid Betty Whalen said when students apply to attend Winthrop, they fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to indicate their dependency status.
“The typical student reports their income and their parents’ income,” Whalen said. “However, there are some students who don’t have that.”
The FAFSA defines the differences between each dependency status: an unaccompanied student is not living in the physical custody of a parent or guardian. A self-supporting student pays for his/her own living expenses, including housing.
A homeless student lacks housing; anyone is considered “at risk” of being homeless if he or she is being evicted and has not found another place to live.
Whalen said students without a permanent living situation are eligible for additional student loans.
“We have to have documentation in order to process (those students) as independent,” she said. “Typically they can get full grants.”
Whalen said she was not sure what the national statistics are for homeless college students, she does know the number is under-reported.
“I was surprised with how few we had, based on the current economic situation,” she said.
Associate Director of Financial Aid Leah Sturgis said the reason some students probably do not apply correctly for financial aid is because they are embarrassed.
“A lot of students do not want to go public with it,” she said.
Whalen said she encourages students to be as honest as they can when they do apply for financial aid so they get the help they need.
“I don’t think students know how confidential financial aid information is,” she said. “The only way we can help a student is to know. We encourage them to come in and talk to us.”
