LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — On top of record-level tuition prices, rising rent and inflation are contributing to more college students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
Every night almost like clockwork, all fourteen beds at Lexington's only emergency shelter for 18 to 24-year-olds are full.
"It's kind of frustrating. We wish we had all the space in the world. But I know that we have students that don't have class until 6 or 7 or 8 p.m. and they have to rush here to make sure that they get a bed," said Andrew Shayde, Development Director at Arbor Youth Services.
Shayde says one of the biggest populations at the young adult shelter is college students.
"We have a couple youth right now that are attending BCTC. We have one at UK,” said Shayde. “I think as homelessness rises nationwide, we absolutely see a correlation here in central Kentucky and that's an increase in homeless 18 to 24-year-olds.”
University of Kentucky case worker Arion Jett-Seals has been connecting people to basic needs and services for 15 years.
As basic needs coordinator, Jett-Seals says lately they’ve served a lot more students through the University’s Center for Support and Intervention.
“I would definitely say the difference is the housing cost,” said Jett-Seals. "So, when they originally signed their leases, the expectation was that the housing was much more affordable. They had roommates or the budget just already worked out for them. Now the average cost that I'm seeing for students for rent is 12 to $1300 dollars a month.”
The need can be seen by looking at the bare shelves in the Big Blue Pantry. They are restocking more than usual to keep up with demand.
The exact number of students experiencing homeless isn’t know because many colleges are not tracking it.
Of the colleges we asked, only Bluegrass Community and Technical College had specific numbers of students experiencing homelessness at around 10 percent.
But researchers at the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice have surveyed over 195,000 students from 130 two-year and four-year colleges.
What they found was that around 14 percent of students at experienced homelessness, while 48 percent experienced housing insecurity.
“Students who are experiencing these situations are sacrificing, who are willing to stop eating, skip rent, not paying their utility bills, and therefore, it turns into a vicious cycle where they have shut off notices eviction notices,” said Director of Institutional Engagement Paula Umana.
Umana says the results show how important any is it that college know what their students are going on through outside of the classroom.
"This is important because students are humans first. Their basic needs are their education,” said Umana.
