Honors College Thesis
 

Homelessness Among College Students in the United States: A Metasynthesis

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/js956p73f

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  • Beginning in 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic contributed to an increase in housing insecurity among college students. As awareness around homelessness has increased, so has research aimed at better understanding the causes of homelessness and housing insecurity among college students, as well as opportunities to better support economic access to higher education for a wider range of students. With the recent growth in the literature that centers homeless college students, a qualitative metasynthesis examining the structural supports and challenges faced by housing insecure college students in the United States can help to synthesize and interpret these findings. The purpose of this thesis project was to use an interpretive, qualitative metasynthesis approach to identify and describe the supports and challenges that homeless college students experience. Through the exploration of these supports and challenges, I aimed to identify the larger social and economic structures within universities that exacerbate or mitigate the experiences of homeless students, shedding light on how these structures might be modified to increase individual access to affordable housing within universities. I identified three crosscutting meta themes from 69 individuals represented in six articles: 1) stability through routine; 2) student identity as an antidote to social shame and isolation; and 3) college as an opportunity to acquire social capital. These themes expose the current supports and barriers that college students experiencing homelessness navigate and suggest a need for policy, research, and program development within higher education. Together, such policies may help to support students who are housing insecure to find affordable and reliable housing—a critical prerequisite to successful and timely degree completion.
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