Accessing Housing as a CUNY Student with a Single Parent

As a student, I believe one of the most challenging and universally experienced hardships for people my age is food and housing insecurity. Fortunately, I have priority access to on-campus housing due to my scholarship. However, it remains extremely unaffordable, and my mother often resorts to putting semester charges for housing on her credit card. Commuting from upstate daily is not sustainable for me, as attending school requires housing near campus.

I opted to be an Excelsior scholar because I couldn’t afford to cover school, housing, and food expenses simultaneously. This is especially true since I am solely supported by my single mother, who will have another child entering college this fall.

I’m deeply disappointed by my college’s disregard for housing and food-insecure students, particularly their decision to demolish the only affordable and accessible campus housing option that accommodates 600 students. The alternative housing I’ve been forced into is double the price yet plagued by issues such as black mold, poor ventilation, leaks, mice, and roaches.

When I raised concerns about the affordability of the dorm, residence-life offered no alternative options and threatened to leave me without housing if I didn’t accept their offer. Moreover, when I fell ill after attempting to clean my mold-infested A/C unit, there was no action taken by the authorities. This led to significant financial strain, numerous doctor visits, hospitalizations, missed classes, and a decline in my overall health due to the living conditions.

As a student in a housing crisis in an overcrowded area, I rely on my campus’s living options to complete my education on time. Graduating in over four years would result in me being responsible for all the tuition my scholarship covered, along with the costs of a year of housing awarded in the scholarship.

The arbitrary restrictions of this scholarship place immense strain on me and my family. Many other students face even greater challenges, including homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and severe food insecurity, exacerbating social issues and hindering their access to education.

All students should have the right to healthy, secure, and affordable housing to ensure they can complete their studies on equal footing without facing extreme financial strain. Access to education is a matter of racial and gender justice, and our academic institutions must prioritize bridging these gaps to create a brighter and more equitable future for all. This can be achieved through establishing one-stop support services for students in need, providing free MetroCards, and offering safe and stable housing with sliding-scale pricing.

A second-year student in Women’s & Gender Studies and Sociology major at Hunter College. Her long-term career goal is to bring justice to incarcerated women who have been victimized by gender-based violence during, before, or after their sentence and create systematic alternatives to incarceration and law enforcement.