In The Shadows Of Higher Education: Housing Insecurities Among College Students (2023)

While higher education is seen as an opportunity for social mobility for many, students who face housing and basic needs insecurities remain an issue that colleges and universities need to understand further. Students who experience food and housing insecurities struggle to persist in their academic pursuits and lack mental and physical health assistance. Limited research on housing-insecure students mainly focuses on the experiences of community college students. More research is needed to understand how housing-insecure students experience higher education at four-year universities. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with undergraduate and graduate housing-insecure students. The research questions guiding this study ask how students experience college at CSUF and, specifically, what navigational strategies these students employ as they go through higher education. This study situates the experiences of housing-insecure students through a social reproduction lens that can better understand the relationship between schooling structures and students from low-income backgrounds. Social capital is also utilized to understand how housing-insecure students draw on their networks to navigate school despite various obstacles. Despite the lack of awareness, inadequate resources, and institutional neglect, the students in this study develop a strong sense of resilience and resistance and develop strong social networks— primarily outside of the university—to persist in their schooling endeavors. This thesis concludes by offering recommendations for universities to improve outreach and resource efforts drawing from the findings of this study.