Students are not known for being flush with cash but few can truly relate to being periodically homeless and still showing up for class.

“I stayed at Siloam Mission for three days last December. It’s terrible,” said Wendy Stevenson. “They close the building up three times a day … You have to stand outside for an hour every time. There are no rooms. Just beds. There are no walls. No safety. Anyone can walk in. You just have someone lay in bed beside you. There are only cots.”

Stevenson described her ordeal as a university student living on Employment Income and Assistance – also known as welfare.

Last winter, she found herself without anywhere to live after a series of housing mishaps, brought on by incompatible roommates and a lack of funds. This occurred all while she put herself through school on virtually no income.

Michelle Dubik, director of policy and program development with Employment Income and Assistance, said that students are not welfare’s target demographic.

“We are there to help you find work, not to help you get an education,” she said. “Other programs, like Student Aid, are geared towards that. Welfare is also a program of last resort.”

“ Few can truly relate to being periodically homeless and still showing up for class.

Poverty is widely acknowledged as the primary barrier to obtaining a post-secondary education.

“People on social assistance have trouble getting the basic education required to get into university in the first place. It’s a problem of getting the proper credentials to begin with,” said Jim Silver, chair of politics at the University of Winnipeg.

If they make it that far, there are further hoops to jump through.

“Another problem is there probably aren’t enough scholarships and bursaries to participate in, and they probably aren’t aware of those kinds of programs as much either,” said Silver.

Stevenson, who is working towards an honours arts degree, receives $285 dollars a month which must go to her rent.

Silver said even if a student were able to obtain a scholarship on welfare, they would still struggle to make ends meet.

“The shelter component of social assistance doesn’t provide enough rent for adequate accommodation. The amount they get for rent, $285, I can well see that some of them end up in a crisis situation with housing, where they might have to take rent from their scholarship and rent from their food allowance.”

Published in Volume 64, Number 4 of The Uniter (September 24, 2009)