"As such, Columbia should invest in a food pantry. Professors such as Temple University’s Sara Goldrick-Rab have conducted research showing the prevalence of food insecurity at community colleges, resulting in a growing conversation in the media about starting food pantries at colleges. "

Wanna bet if they put food pantries in college it's going to be the BLM/Gender Studies/OCR personal FREE junk food stash?

"... but nobody should have their ability to learn and self-actualize so dramatically impeded."

Sorry, you lost me with 'self-actualize'.

Yes there are homeless and hungry college students. They shouldn't remain college students. Asking someone to spend thousands of dollars on education when they don't have food or shelter is a gross misordering of priorities.

Also, most cities have food pantries and homeless shelters. Colleges don't need to take on those efforts. Just keep your former students informed of available services.

Disagree totally w/having special facilities for 'homeless' students.

Use the existing charities/churches.

You are not special or different from the military vet, the battered wife/mother, or the mentally troubled.

UNLIKE THE ABOVE you made a choice to be homeless in order to attend a school of your choice. NO ONE owes you anything.

Personally, I couldn't attend USC, where I got in, because I couldn't afford it.

However, it's a nice change from the hurt feelz whining, and it is true that students really differ in ability to pay and how supported they are and have been financially, more than anything else.

Yeah, I suppose it is a nice change of pace from the usual. However, I hear my father saying God gave more brains to a door knob than these people.

To channel Dave Ramsey, your first priorities: food, water, clothing, shelter. Then, if you can afford it, Columbia.

If not, there's always your local community college if it will get you into a 4 year program. Or, if worse comes to worse, there's always barber school.

I'll give a little sympathy to them, because in your 4-6 years at college, financial situations can change, and you don't want to throw away what you have already spent. Sure a leave of absence for a semester or 2 is possible, but some places won't do longer.
For example, knew one whose father died, family income dropped to basically nothing,financial aid kicked in somewhat, but vanished the next year when life insurance policy paid off.
However, these are rather rare as opposed to those who don't plan or look at the actual costs.
As to food and housing, colleges are probably the easiest places to find them with student id.

Darth Aggie explains well.

These students purposely choose to start/continue something they can not afford.

Period Dot F#$% Period

Charity dollars should not be wasted on them as they are not needy. Simply pig-headed.

Not even stubborn describes this foolishness as they could not bring themselves to solve the "problem" themselves (join the Army, find an alternative, find a sponsor or even a'sugar daddy', ...)

NOOOOOO! They just ignore the obvious.

(But Daddy, the gas stations looked dirty!)

It is an interesting diversion from the cries of the professional discontents. I suspect that for a lot of the homeless students, being determined to attend Columbia was part of what put them in that position in the first place.

But nothing in the Airaksinen talks about why the students are homeless, or what proportion of the student body has nowhere to eat or sleep. Did they start out living in the dorms, but had to leave due to financial issues? Did they have some kind of problem that forced them from student housing? Were they determined to go to Columbia no matter what the cost, even if it meant living on the streets?

So many questions. If only a few students (whatever "few" means) are homeless, maybe some kind of food pantry needs to be provided. But if student homelessness is a large problem, maybe Columbia needs to be a little more careful about the financial means of the students it admits. Surely, their financial aid people are aware of how rich or poor their incoming students are; anyone applying for financial aid will have filled out a FAFSA, CSS profile, or both. Why would Columbia allow an incoming student to enroll without making sure he or she is able to manage the cost of housing?

You have homeless starving students at all universities. There was a couple at OU who hung out in one of the student rec areas. When another student threw out a half eaten meal they would snatch it out of the trash. They slept in the library or lounges.

But at the end of the day reality kicks in. If you cannot afford food and shelter you cannot afford that school. You need to drop out and get a job. I don't really care about leave of absence issues. Unless you are one semester away from finishing you cannot afford to do this any longer. It sucks but that is life.

Eh. There were students who slept in the libraries at UT. I can see the point of doing so. Short term shittiness for (hopefully) long term gain. I'd rather sleep in a library a few years and then get to move on to nicer things, than live in a crappy studio apartment on the bad side of town, with a car that barely runs, and no money, for my entire life because I can't get a decent job. I don't feel sorry for them, they've looked at the options and made their decision, no differently than the people who enlist and risk possible death/disability, for the long-term payoff of college paid for afterwards. Good for them for being go-getters.

Very probably, some of them could get fin aid for housing etc, but would rather not graduate deep in debt, and choose to sleep where they can, instead. Valid choice.

I have nothing but admiration for people who work through tough times to achieve their goals.

Real Americans call it "self reliance" or "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps".

There's always a way. I let the government pay for mine, and I gave them a few years of my life (which had the potential to be the rest of my life) in return.

Life isn't fair. Then you die.