Sunday, April 18, 2010

Homeless After Graduation?

Many GW seniors are doing what university seniors across the country are doing right now, looking for jobs and a place to live after graduation, as a GW senior I am no exception. I know I am staying in D.C. for a little while after graduation to finish off a lease in an off-campus apartment but after that I need to go look for something new. For all the education we get at GW there is nothing in picking an apartment, you have a few choices for on-campus living and if you receive financial aid which includes housing you do not even have the opportunity to move off campus.


If you are looking for something in the D.C. area after graduation you can spend weekends looking at apartments that meet whatever criteria you decided on. For students who are moving elsewhere, either for a job or to continue their education the task is even harder since they are not able to spend part of their time visiting apartment buildings.


GW does provide some resources for students who live off campus, there is the Office of Off-Campus Student Affairs which offers a guide on "Finding Your New Home", and students can ask older friends about where they live, but there is no institutional framework for moving students off campus so they can find a real apartment if they choose. Instead of forcing upperclassman who are dependent on their financial aid packages to live on-campus, why not transfer that into a credit which they can use for any apartment of their choice (provided they show proof). Students would get the valuable real-world experience which GW boasts giving its students, and on-campus housing would be available to more underclassman.


Given how things work at GW, does anyone think this will ever happen?

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