Can this possibly be true?

California members please chime-in.

 

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-c...snap-story.html

 

I've heard of college students' humble beginnings and there are a few success stories from members here but this sounds far-fetched. Horrible if true.

Sounds like complete bullshit...

Not sure if the numbers are correct, but I personally encountered many many families live in motels and pay day by day lodging. Also not uncommon for multi families share a single family house together (never seen this until I moved to So. cal).

 

 

When I was at UF, I'd always bump into people in the libraries that were always there. Turns out a lot of them spent most there time in the libraries, washed up in the bathroom and slept in their cars.

Not sure if the numbers are correct, but I personally encountered many many families live in motels and pay day by day lodging. Also not uncommon for multi families share a single family house together (never seen this until I moved to So. cal).

 

After just barely living here in SoCal for the past couple of years, I still find it baffling how people on minimum wage manage to sustain a living. Home prices here are just absolutely ridiculously expensive.

I don't know about this but in poor areas the primary schools feed the kids for free so they have food.

 

Cali is stupid expensive partially because of all the illegal immigrants getting services and also because so many people are on the dole. They come here thinking Cali dreaming but have no marketable skills so they get here and drain the public funds, then hard workers get their asses taxed off.

I don't know about this but in poor areas the primary schools feed the kids for free so they have food.

 

Cali is stupid expensive partially because of all the illegal immigrants getting services and also because so many people are on the dole. They come here thinking Cali dreaming but have no marketable skills so they get here and drain the public funds, then hard workers get their asses taxed off.

I dunno, 1 in 10 seems insanely high. Most students I know just pack in to 2 bedroom apts with 3 other people. When I first moved here I shared a studio in Koreatown with my buddy for $1k a month. After the 2nd shooting out front I figured I should probably move.

 

Housing has gone through the roof here. I always think it's reached it's limit and it will chill out, then see a house I passed on a year ago get listed (and sold) by it's new owner for $1.5M more. Insanity.

Not sure if the numbers are correct, but I personally encountered many many families live in motels and pay day by day lodging. Also not uncommon for multi families share a single family house together (never seen this until I moved to So. cal).

 

It's hugely common around the Corona/Riverside area, 2-3 families will collectively buy or rent a 5-6 bedroom home and act like they are all wealthy. But you end up with 7 cars and 15 people in a house and it's chaos for the neighborhood.

 

The stats in that article are bullshit and it's all following their agenda. Food deprived... where did the running joke of living off cup-o-noodle in college come from? I was poor in college and so were many of my friends, it's all part of the experience IMO.

 

Maybe if CSU and UC schools would focus on more than increasing tuition exponentially this problem would fix itself. I'm betting they want to roll a housing allowance into 'tuition' so all their students come out an extra $80k in debt with their gender studies degree in hand, while doubling the on campus housing costs.

 

I'm a little peeved at the UC system as I recently discovered an MBA from UCLA will cost you a mint LP560. (All the decent schools do now, it's obscene)

I think that number is pretty crazy. Maybe after leaving college, since I was homeless for about a week after (was sleeping in my car until I lost that) but then got it together made use of some family help. But still even then I think 1 in 10 is too high. My guess is that plenty of students living somewhere rent free...

 

The main thing is school just want to up tuition fees and enrollment since they get paid per student...it doesn't matter if they get jobs after they get out, the school has it's money. The world of academia is big hypocritical money machine (primarily). If you're smart and work it while you're there then you'll come out fine. If you aren't, I have no sympathy for you.

My guess is it's a push to provide tax payer funded free housing for all state colleges.

 

Otherwise why do a study and use the media to report such things?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

460,000 students?!?!!??!

I agree it sounds like an agenda for making more money, either tax payer funded or student loan money and the 460k # is stupid high.

I must admit though I am a great proponent of "not everyone should have a degree" and some people god forbid will have to have a job where they get their hands dirty and work from the bottom up.

460,000 students?!?!!??!

 

Yep, that part is pretty spot on. 23 Schools as part of the CSU system, UC is 9 schools and around 240k students. Between the two, their annual budgets are $42 BILLION.

 

700k students a year, thats pretty insane.

The study broadly defines homelessness, couch surfing and crashing with friends would count as homelessness. Anyone who can not technically prove their place of residence with their name on a lease, would technically qualify as homeless.

I can believe it. My ex girlfriend from 2015 is homeless and attending school. She wasn't, but the apartment she was staying in didn't work out and then she couldn't find anyone to room with. I don't know if she still is, I just know she was because someone came to serve her papers and she hadn't changed her address... so I'm like "What the fcuk is this?" and texted her and she said, "I'm homeless I don't have an address right now." I was like ooooooook then. (not to sound like a dick but whatever, she mad her bed)

 

Here in central oregon, property is stupid expensive, rent is stupid expensive and property taxes are silly. The house next to me got purchased as a rental investment, and when they told me what it cost I damn near shit myself because it's the same house design and it's double what my mortgage is. That's the norm around here.

 

Anyway, she was working a pretty shit job, it's about all she could find, trying to find a place to stay and things just didn't work out. Around here the demand is much greater than the current rentals, and even when you do find something they are really REALLY picky about who gets approved. It's wild.

The study broadly defines homelessness, couch surfing and crashing with friends would count as homelessness. Anyone who can not technically prove their place of residence with their name on a lease, would technically qualify as homeless.

 

Correct. Doesn't always mean you're "on the street." It still sucks.

What ever happened to having a part time job, living at home, and paying your own way through college? Although a community college sounds less impressive, I would take a debt free degree over the alternative. I certainly can not be the only person to do this?

What ever happened to having a part time job, living at home, and paying your own way through college? Although a community college sounds less impressive, I would take a debt free degree over the alternative. I certainly can not be the only person to do this?

 

Nope, that's what I did when I went to school. I worked 2 jobs, lived in a small apartment, paid as I went and came out debt free. It's certainly not impossible. In my most recent ex girlfriend's case, she chose not to get any grants or go through any other programs and wanted to go to school to be CFI and Commercial for helis. She's over 100k in debt.

 

The gf I dated in 2015 went to school multiple times and quit, then went back, then quit, then went back, then quit and finally went back for a different degree entirely and just racked up tons of debt. She worked hard, but she pissed her money away like you wouldn't believe. (there's a reason we're not together anymore) She decided it was more important to spend money on pot and frivolous shit than pay bills or her school loans. I'm 90% sure the papers being served probably had something to do with her debt.

 

My point is that some people make a conscious choice to dive into a sea of debt and go swimming in the deep end. Why? I have no fcuking clue. I promised myself the only debt I'd have would be a house, and I kept it that way. I only see debt as acceptable if it helps you make money. Otherwise, if I can't buy it in cash, I can't afford it. But these days the opinion seems to be, "Just throw it on a card... have another for backup. Take out personal loans if you need or want it. Just live off of school loans because you can pay it back later... oh and society hates me and it's all society's fault that i'm in this situation and can't afford shit now."

 

How it got that way is beyond me...

What ever happened to having a part time job, living at home, and paying your own way through college? Although a community college sounds less impressive, I would take a debt free degree over the alternative. I certainly can not be the only person to do this?

 

For undergrad UC schools generally require you to live on campus, outside of that most do live at home (these days until they are 30).

 

Community colleges can be a double edged sword and it's not always so appealing in the big picture. Here is my quick breakdown on why I believe they are a bad idea (in SoCal).

 

1. It won't take you 2 years to transfer, more than likely it will be at least 3 due almost entirely to class availability. They are so over crowded that without some registration seniority you just can't get anything degree relevant.

2. It's 13th grade of High School. Kids live at home, take bullshit classes, and hang around all the bonehead friends they have had for the past 4+ years. Everyone is on a slow track to loser-ville. IMO this greatly impedes kids doing any serious maturing at a pretty critical point in their development. How much do you grow up when mom is still doing your laundry and cooking dinner? This is one area where the UC schools get it right by all but forcing kids to live on campus their freshman year. Those kids all grow up a shit ton in that 9 month span.

3. The rate of kids actually transferring (or even completing an AA degree) from a JC is pathetically low. This is I'm sure due to a culmination of all the reasons listed ablove. It's discouraging being 22 and finally graduating with an AA or transferring while other kids are done with their B.S. Kids generally aren't mentally tough (because they never were forced to grow up) and don't push through seeing the big picture.

 

What is the lost opportunity cost if it delays you graduating by 2 years? Is it worth spending another $15k/yr to save those two years? Now add in the other benefits of being at a school where most everyone is driven and motivated to succeed vs. 13th grade.

 

I'm all for keeping student loans to an absolute minimum, but I have personally seen this attempt to save a little $$ seriously backfire. Some kids have the will and determination to make it work, but IMO they are the exception not the rule.

 

The one caveat to all this is that the student be pursuing a degree with a relevant skill, anything STEM related. Be it science, engineering, economics, finance, etc. In those categories my advice is always, go to the absolute best school you can get into and then sort out the $$ as best you can. If the kid if majoring in aztec ceramics then all is lost from the start.

 

Kids these days are candy asses.

I don't know about this but in poor areas the primary schools feed the kids for free so they have food.

 

Cali is stupid expensive partially because of all the illegal immigrants getting services and also because so many people are on the dole. They come here thinking Cali dreaming but have no marketable skills so they get here and drain the public funds, then hard workers get their asses taxed off.

Build the wall 10 feet higher! #MAGA

As someone whose livelihood is largely based on social research like this,

 

I will say this:

 

 

1. The article sucks, as these studies don't talk of homelessness so simply...

 

 

2. ...As the questions in the survey matter such as:

 

 

3. The difference between respondents have been homeless at least once within a given year, versus those facing chronic or sustained homelessness (say, for 3 months to a year straight)

 

 

4. Homelessness, when you ask respondents, vary based on perceptions: Someone that couch surfs, may not say they are homeless if they always have a place to stay; while, similarly, someone that stays in a hotel, may say they are homeless. Many cultural and psychological factors...

 

 

5. A large part of the rising cost of tuition #1 has to due with reduced Federal and State funding for colleges and universities, as well as, #2 the debt incurred for large building projects. I've been told by one university administrator, "student's and families want these amenities, so the money has to come from some where".

 

 

Finally, I will say, it, also, is probably realistic. I don't do work in California, and don't care for the state beyond visiting for fun. But, I will say housing is ridiculous in California and one of my close friends is deeply involved in addressing the issue in the Bay Area.

 

 

If it matters to the room. I could look up the research, specifically and critique their research method. And, ask a friend of mine who has more a ton of real data.