Ah, the last days of the Summer semester are upon those among us still attending, and we now stand upon the precipice of a difficult time for some students. I’m not referring to the distinct lack of sunshine over the past week, nor do I speak lightly of nights many will spend studying for their finals or finishing their final projects.
I speak of a phenomenon which will afflict students as their apartment leases end, their contracts reach their limits and the many students who call Gainesville home enter “homeless week.”
It’s a desperate time period between the end of an apartment lease at one location and the beginning of another lease elsewhere. Most students will likely head back to their family homes for the transition or else leave their belongings in a storage container while they head off to a vacation far and abroad from such concerns.
But for other students, whether they live far out of state or country, work jobs in town or have simply attempted to strike out as independents, they’re left with an awkward period of time wherein they can be definitionally homeless.
Most will likely “couch surf” or stay at the abodes of their friends as the time passes, possibly packing their property tetris-style into the trunk of cars or renting a storage unit. But nonetheless, the time served is a rare reminder of the fragility of a college existence.
We and our families will spend thousands of dollars on tuition, textbooks, housing and more to get through college. We often forget that the sheer amount of money most college students receive from their parents and scholarships would be almost impossible for a child straight out of high school to achieve through work alone.
The wages and income of your average student would find most of us standing below the poverty line and probably eligible for food stamps if we went through the official channels.
It’s thoughts such as this that leave many students near graduation reluctant or nervous about leaving the academic environment. After years of living as a dependent, not everyone is immediately certain as to how to function as a productive member of society, fully educated and supposedly ready to tackle the world.
But frankly, it’s not quite as uncertain as you may fear. Think about it: The only reason you’ve got those scholarships in the first place is because you made your efforts to keep the academics up. You’re already used to advancing upon your efforts, and as another semester draws to a close, you can expect your ambitions to keep you afloat.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 8/3/15]
