Thursday, May 15, 2017

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The Student Voice of California State University, Fullerton

Monday May 15, 2017

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Volume 101 Issue 50 INSTAGRAM & TWITTER @THEDAILYTITAN

HOMELESS IN OC

Former homeless student excels Despite living out of his car, Christopher Rael perservered.

Bats come alive in final game of matchup with UC Santa Barbara.

MEGAN MAXEY Daily Titan When graduate student Christopher Rael decided he needed to pay for his undergraduate degree instead of his rent, he found himself sleeping in his car for seven months. Despite the adversity he faced throughout his academic journey, Rael remained positive and turned his challenges into his passion. Currently pursuing his master’s degree in cultural anthropology at Cal State Fullerton, Rael said once he became serious about school, he did anything to get educated. This included being homeless. “I tried to keep real quiet about it … It’s embarrassing. To top it off, you know that you’re kind of the smelly kid in class,” Rael said. SEE ANTHRO

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Titans win 10th series of season BRYANT FREESE Daily Titan

KATIE ALBERTSON / DAILY TITAN

Graduate student Christopher Rael works at a child care center in Long Beach. The assistant director of the children’s center described Rael and his work as “above and beyond.”

FULLERTON – In a series Cal State Fullerton baseball needed to sweep to keep pace with Long Beach State in the Big West standings, the Titans dropped game two to UC Santa Barbara to fall three games behind the Gauchos in the loss column. “I’m not even worried about Long Beach State, I mean I can care less about Long Beach State. Our job is to win series and we need to keep winning them,” said Head Coach Rick Vanderhook. SEE HOMERS

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HOMELESS IN OC

CSU students struggle with housing

Study estimates 8.7 percent are housing insecure. MEGAN MAXEY LIDIA MOSQUEDA Daily Titan

At the end of the fall 2016 semester, Jacklyn Lao found herself struggling to find a place to live. For almost three months, the broadcast journalism major lived in her car. She kept all her belongings in her hatchback and drove it to Cal State Fullerton every day. “I didn’t want to live with my parents again because it was hard to live under them,” Lao said. Lao chose to keep her

homeless struggles to herself. “I felt embarrassed that that was my living situation, and I also felt too proud to tell anybody. I didn’t want anyone feeling bad for me, and my friends at school––I didn’t want to go to school having them know that I just came from my car,” Lao said. Normally a dedicated student, Lao began to fall behind academically, despite taking advantage of library hours and free internet access in campus coffee shops. Lao is one of thousands of CSU students who have struggled with housing. The CSU Chancellor’s Office took a look at this problem in 2015 and

released a study regarding housing and food insecure students. The study found that 8.7 percent of the CSU student population was housing insecure and 21 percent of the CSU students were food insecure. Based on these percentages and the size of the CSUF student body, CSUF could have as many as 3,480 students who have struggled with housing issues and 8,400 who have faced some form of food insecurity. The study defines “housing insecure” students as “youth who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and unaccompanied which includes youth not in the physical custody of a

parent or guardian.” Students who are “food insecure” are those struggling to have access to safe and nutritious meals each day. The study showed CSUF had only one program to help these kinds of students, an emergency grant for up to $500 that had to be reimbursed within 45 days. Other CSUs had temporary housing programs, food pantries and other individualized programs for hungry or homeless students. In response to a 2015 challenge from the CSU Chancellor’s Office, CSUF formed a “Food and Housing Security Task Force” in 2016 to tackle these

problems. As a result, the university now has four beds available on campus for students who need temporary housing. Students can use the beds for up to a month, said Carmen Curiel, the assistant dean of students. Students who are interested in using the four beds can fill out an application and set up a meeting with her, she said. About a dozen students have used the temporary housing program since it began in the middle of the fall 2016 semester. Because the dean’s office has spent so much time planning the program, they have not had time to market it. They plan to devote time to publicizing

the option for students this summer, Curiel said. CSUF freshman Samantha Galloway would have been a perfect candidate for the temporary housing program. She spent a month “couch surfing” to cope with her housing insecurity. “Couch surfing” is the most common way housing insecure students manage their instability, according to the 2015 CSU study. “I had financial aid and it was working out and then by the middle of October, I ran out of financial aid,” Galloway said. “I didn’t have a job and my mom can’t support me because she could barely support herself.” SEE RESOURCES

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On-campus lodging costs far exceed tuition Nearby apartments prove to be a less expensive alternative. LUIS MEDINA Daily Titan Thousands of Cal State Fullerton students struggle with housing costs. Students

with limited incomes who don’t live with their parents have few affordable housing options. Some have been forced to live in their cars or to “couch surf” just so they can afford the cost of an education. An estimated 8.7 percent of California State University students are considered “housing insecure,”

Shuffling dean positions raise concerns

News 3

Leadership roles with constant turnover can impede the colleges’ ability to achieve their goals, some officials say.

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according to a 2015 study conducted by the CSU Chancellor’s office. At CSUF, housing costs can be up to three times the cost of tuition for one semester. CSUF provides housing for approximately 2,600 of the university’s around 40,000 students. Freshmen live in residence halls and

sophomores and above live in apartments with kitchens. All students are required to purchase a meal plan which is factored into their housing price. The yearly cost for freshmen, which does not include the summer, ranges from $15,078 to $15,618 depending on what kind of meal plan they purchase. Living

Degrees shouldn’t cost arms and knees

Opinion

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Because of rising tuition, graduating in four years is no longer a possibility for many students.

in an apartment can cost you anywhere from $11,178 to $16,380 depending on the size of the apartment and the meal plan they choose. Many students simply can’t afford these prices and either move back with their parents, find a place off campus or become displaced. When health science major Josie Xing enrolled at

CSUF, she did her research. “Either way, I was going to live near school away from home since my house is too far for me to commute, so it was either between taking out $10,000 of loans per year to live in the dorms or taking $5,000 out per year to live in the apartments.” SEE HOUSING

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Men’s track & field wins Big West title

Sports 9

Cal State Fullerton men’s team won its first track & field conference title in program history. VISIT US AT: DAILYTITAN.COM


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