Cleveland Car Donation Can Help Homeless College Students

The perils homeless college students face continues to rise

Every winter and spring break, many of America’s 21 million college students leave campus and return to their parents or relatives’ homes to take a short rest from studying. While this is typically a relaxing period for most undergraduates, there is a growing number of students that don’t have the luxury of returning to a stable household.

An increasing issue across the country and Cleveland

While homeless college students may not seem like a typical demographic, The Free Application for Federal Student Aid estimates that there are more than 58,000 homeless students throughout United States campuses, an 8 percent increase from the previous school year.

Because these students do have access to dormitory housing throughout most of the year, they are often missed by point-in-time surveys and other studies aimed at estimating homeless populations. Similar to homeless children, their invisible numbers make it difficult to secure funding for housing and aid programs that could help them during college breaks.

What’s more, many homeless students have difficulty securing financial aid for their education because they have little to no contact with their parents or legal guardians.

How college students become homeless

Whether they are unwilling to return to an abusive household, or are continuing their homeless life from high school, these students depend on their campuses for food and shelter. Unfortunately, many colleges throughout the country completely shut down for winter and spring break, discharging everyone from campus and leaving homeless students with nowhere to go.

The few colleges that do have policies that allow select students to stay behind typically only cater to international students and athletes. This leaves homeless college students sleeping on couches, in cars and even on the street.

Your Cleveland car donation can help

Education is an extremely important factor for people who are attempting to break the cycle of poverty. No education can mean a limited choice of careers, allowing for less of an ability to work one’s way out of debt.

In an effort to help juvenile offenders aged 16-21 combat this cycle, our Face Forward 2 in Cleveland helps provide employment skills training for juvenile offenders to help them lead successful, productive lives. Services provided include employment readiness training, job placement, job retention, as well as providing assistance for those eligible for expungement services.

But we depend on your donations to fund these programs, so if you have an extra or unused car, truck, motorcycle, RV or boat that’s just taking up space, please donate it to Volunteers of America in Cleveland. Even if it’s not running, we can arrange free same-day towing to come get it. Additionally, you might make more money off of your vehicle as a tax-deductible donation than you would by selling it through the classifieds.

College students are the next wave of workers, professionals and innovators, so please help us help them stay in school by donating your car to Volunteers of America in Cleveland today.