BOCA RATON, Fla. — Students who are homeless or in the foster care system are considered least likely to graduate from college, experts say.
The situation has only gotten worse in South Florida as affordable housing becomes so hard to find. However, one program at Florida Atlantic University is trying to help solve the problem, and a new donation will help.
Joseph Murray is the associate dean of undergraduate studies at FAU and he leads the Educate Tomorrow at FAU program, which supports those students who experience homelessness or foster care.
"This is probably, nationally, the group of students least likely to graduate bar none," he said.
Murray added that the national graduation rate for this population of students is about 5%. However, at FAU, it's about 56%.
"It's really a forgotten population," he said.
Right now, the university is serving about 150 students who fit the bill, though it varies semester to semester based on a student's housing status. Murray said they try to prioritize these students getting on-campus housing whenever possible.
"In South Florida, here it’s all about housing. We have students who are living in their cars in parking garages with kids, with significant others, so that has been the real challenge—not only having money for the housing but having the housing period," Murray said. "There just isn’t anything out there in South Florida."
However, a recent anonymous donation will help alleviate the housing crisis for students. A gift of nearly a half million dollars will go toward housing and educational costs. Each student will receive an average of $3,000, expected to be distributed this week.
"Yes, the money is important but it doesn’t change outcomes. What changes outcomes is what we call the wrap-around support services," h said. "It’s just not handing you a check, because it doesn’t motivate the change."
The students also receive support services like academic advising, success coaching, and mentoring to connect them with resources to help ensure their success.
"If they hit a wall, they are connected to somebody on campus and we can solve that before it becomes too late and they are out the door," Murray said. "This is changing generational poverty and that is powerful, and it has a huge impact on the community, because it gets individuals off the streets, out of being incarcerated and in shelters, when they can earn their degrees and continue on. It truly takes a village, and so we try to bring, not only FAU resources, but community resources as well."
One student benefiting from the program is Royalyn Darby. The transfer student is now living in on-campus housing for upperclassmen, but it wasn't always that way.
"We were living in hotels and they were just way too expensive. We were paying almost $600 to 800 every four days," she told WPTV education reporter Stephanie Susskind.
Darby came to FAU as a transfer student with her associate's degree in 2022 and couldn't find a place to live. She was staying in hotels until she did something not everyone is brave enough to do. She went to the dean of students and asked for help.
"For me the experience was overwhelming and at first I felt ashamed that I even had to reach out for help," she said. "I just felt overwhelmed by it all, because I was still doing school, plus going through what I was going through and trying to overcome it."
However, she got connected with the Educate Tomorrow program at FAU, and they found her a place to live on campus. Now, Darby is thriving, involved in many on-campus activities and getting ready to apply to dental school.
"I told myself, if I don’t get help I’m going to have to drop out of FAU, which is something I didn’t want to do, because I came here for a specific reason," she said. "Without the help, I wouldn’t still be here and now I’m set to graduate in the summer."
She said the money in this program has made a big impact on her.
"It makes a huge difference, I’m able to not have to worry about how I’m going to pay for my housing, how I’m going to get money to buy books that cost almost $700 every semester, so it alleviates a lot of stress and actually I’m able to focus more on my school work than I am on the financial aspect of it," she said. "To other students who are struggling, I say keep up the hope, and if there’s no other way, just reach out for help, because it is here. They (FAU) are willing to help us and do what they need to do to keep their students here."
To learn more about the Educate Tomorrow program, click here.