Homeless Not Hopeless: Understanding How Graduate Students Who Experience Housing Instability Successfully Navigate Their Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Hollar If You Hear Me: Supporting Doctoral Students Through Their Academic Journey

Abstract

Homelessness is not a new phenomenon in education; however, educators and policymakers have lacked the urgency to work toward solutions. The solutions, including policy and practice, concentrate on the needs of undergraduate students. To date, the extant literature has largely left unaddressed the needs of graduate students who experience housing insecurity or homelessness. Much of the current discourse on housing instability in higher education is deficit-centered. To challenge deficit thinking, this study employed Harper’s (2010) anti-deficit achievement framework. This paper shares the narratives of how five graduate students at a Midwest public university successfully navigated their experiences with housing instability. Findings suggest that campus and community spaces, peers, family, and participants' faith were key to their success.

Author

• Dena Lane-Bonds, Vanderbilt University