Broke student 'slept in library'

From BBC News
<snip>


A student in the US has been given free accommodation after it was found he had been sleeping in the college library for eight months to save money.

Steven Stanzak began spending the night in the basement of New York University's main library last September, unable to afford the city's high cost of living.

He washed in the toilets and kept his clothes and books in a locker.

Officials only found out by reading Mr Stanzak's own website.
<snip>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3665885.stm

OK, this story ain't exactly the "Liberation of Fallujah" or "Dick Cheney drops dead in massage parlour" but it does highlight the plight of real life when your're hard up...

They were new to town, could not afford a hotel, so they found that Opryland Hotel had a lot of out of the way sitting rooms and lounges and they would sleep there. They had use of the bathrooms. Whenever there was a party or reception they would line up with all the other people, chit chat, eat the food and then disappear. They did this for about six months, I think, until they got settled.

If you can scrape up with the $30K+ tuition for a year at NYU, then why are you sleeping in the library? Seems like a stunt or something. If you are seriously in tough financial straits, then why not pick a less expensive school or something?

...don't know why this is so hard for you to believe. The shape of things to come.

:shrug:

You are correct that there is "more to the story" .... the fella isn't "broke." Works four PT jobs, gets grants, etc. Part of his issues involve no support from either of his divorced parents. So he was actually one of the working poor, who is in part a victim of circumstance, and who tried to make the best of a difficult situation. He is not entirely different from a huge # of people from generations past, perhaps like Woody Guthrie. I can relate to it, as I spent about a year under similar conditions. It's not easy, but it gives you an appreciation of things that those living comfortable lives can not understand. (28 years later, I like comfort!)

and posted my knee-jerker after reading about this earlier on MSNBC, which dwelled more on the blog'ing etc. and not covering his details. I do sympathize, having scraped through myself on scholarships and loans and co-op work.

.... you were correct that there was much more to the picture than the news media reports. Let's hope that the great universal force is sending the cosmic goodness of Woodie Guthrie through the younger generation. May they learn the lessons of homelessness, and gather by the thousands to sing "This Land (is your land...)" so loud that they make it impossible for dick cheney to be heard on any college campus in America. If you are reading this, please sing (or at least humm) as many verses of this song as you can remember throughout the day. Come on now, four part harmony ....