What it’s like to be a homeless college student

More than 1.5 million college students in America are homeless. One college student experiencing homelessness in Colorado found support.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

College can be stressful enough – studying, deadlines, rising tuition costs – without having to worry about housing. But more than a million and a half college students in America are homeless, making that challenge of graduating even tougher. Emma VandenEinde with member station KUNC has a story of one student who was struggling with homelessness but was eventually able to find some help.

EMMA VANDENEINDE, BYLINE: Oscar Godinez-Avila grew up poor in northern Colorado. Both of his parents worked but could only afford the essentials. His dad worked in agriculture and trucking, and his family had to move every couple years. Godinez-Avila often slept on the living room floor in one-bedroom apartments with his three siblings. They never bought anything new, and when he was little, he remembers being jealous of other kids’ backpacks at school.

OSCAR GODINEZ-AVILA: We could only afford the standard, like, one-color ones, and then I see other kids walking around with, like, Super Mario or, like, some other pop character on there. That was a bit hard for me.

VANDENEINDE: Godinez-Avila, who’s 25 now, managed to graduate high school and was hungry for more education. He got a small scholarship to attend Colorado State University, but found out pretty quickly he couldn’t afford to stay in the dorms and became homeless. Sometimes, he’d stay with friends.

GODINEZ-AVILA: They were kind enough to let me be on their couch while I figured out something more permanent. Unfortunately, that usually just meant I needed to find another couch.

VANDENEINDE: Godinez-Avila would often use the sinks on campus to clean up. He’d skipped breakfast because he had no place to store his food. He was always working or doing homework. He felt different.

GODINEZ-AVILA: It felt like everybody here had…