Living in the Library, For Real

Students are stretching to the limit to afford that $100,000 ticket to a better life.

By Michelle Paladino, NYU

It’s your typical 2 a.m., winter 2002. New York University’s fall semester is in full swing, midterms are looming ever closer and Bobst Library is filled with caffeine-addled minds and tired eyes. For a few, the caffeine just couldn’t last long enough, and they have collapsed face down into their books.

On the 24-hour basement level, Steve Stanzak has fallen asleep as well, snuggled into his sleeping bag under some desks, hoping that tonight the guards won’t wake him up. But for Steve, this is no power nap.

I first ran into Steve at your typically ridiculous NYU dorm party. Somehow we got to talking about housing options and he mentioned casually that he was living in the library. I attempted to sympathize, saying “don’t we all” with a little shrug. He laughed and replied, “Yeah, but I actually am living in the library. A-level to be exact.”

After eight months of Steve sleeping, washing, and living in the library, school officials eventually discovered the secret life of “Bobst boy.” His parents provided no financial support and though he was working up to four jobs simultaneously, he couldn’t afford housing. So he had to choose between living on the streets and coming up with a more creative solution.

Though he used to get weird looks in the library bathrooms for brushing his teeth and had to make do with an all McDonald’s diet because he had no kitchen access, his life of library living was sometimes strangely normal. He kept up with classes, worked various jobs, chatted online, and did his homework. Asked why he didn’t just go to the university administration, Steve explains, “I didn’t want to drop out of school and I didn’t know what NYU was going to do with me. I know people who couldn’t pay for housing and tuition and had to drop out. I definitely didn’t want to do that!”

Though Steve’s story is clearly one-of-a-kind, elements of it may hit close to home for other struggling college students: working hours and hours at part-time jobs, signing their lives away with heaps of loans through Sallie Mae, receiving scholarship money, and still not making ends meet.

The angry din from struggling students and grumbling parents is increasing at almost the same exponential rates as tuition hikes. In the past few years, increases have averaged a steady 5%-8%. At expensive private schools, like NYU, the cost of learning this past year looks something like this:

Average Tuition – $28,617
Average Housing – $10,149.23
Average Meal Charge – $1,536
Average Books – $600

Cost of learning – Your calculator batteries dying and your heart stopping at the mere thought of the decades it will take you to pay off all those loans.

Rising costs are not limited to private universities, but extend to public universities as well. Last year alone, the average tuition and fees for in-state students at public four-year colleges and universities grew $487 (or 10.5%). According to Bob Shireman, a former education advisor for President Clinton, “the increases over the longer term are a result of the general increase in the cost of hiring highly-educated people . . . However, the cause of recent increases at public colleges has been cuts in state funding.” And this is where big time national politics trickles down to the everyday and kicks you in the ass.

With states facing tighter budgets due to federal tax cuts, the war on terrorism, President Bush’s war in Iraq, and so on public universities are getting less money from the government and are demanding more money from their students.

In order to afford college, many low and middle income students rely on government aid programs. In President Bush’s last State of the Union he reassured these students with cuddly promises. “We will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants.” To the 5.5 million students who receive these grants, his pledge must have felt like a big bag of IOU’s had floated away.

However, his proposed enhancements to the Pell program fall far short of what is needed to keep a college education possible for all Americans. Essentially, the Bush plan calls for a $500 increase in the size of the grants over five years, which is pathetic addition compared to the average increase in costs at four-year public universities last year alone ($824). It’s as if Bush is heading out to the beach with a toy pail, declaring that he’ll stop the high tide with it. Thanks a lot.

Further offsetting this already meager Pell Grant increase is the practical eradication of the Perkins Loan Program, in which colleges match federal funds with low-interest loans. Essentially, under Bush’s plan there will be no new federal capital given to the program, leaving it up to the colleges to continue funding the loans from other sources. Cutting one program to slightly boost another isn’t a sustainable solution, but just a sleight of hand to give Americans the illusion of change.

Students like Erica Abrahamsen, a junior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will feel the pinch from such government efforts. “I have had to take out a few outside loans, mostly through Sallie Mae and subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans [another federal loan program]. I was accepted into Boston University, yet I had to turn it down because there was just no way that I could afford it with the financial package they provided.”

Two days before Christmas 2004, the Bush Administration had an unwelcome holiday surprise for 80,000 to 90,000 students like Erica, forcing them to dig deeper into their pockets. For the first time since 1993, Congress chose to revise the Pell Grant eligibility formula, updating state and local tax tables to 2002 numbers used to determine expected family contributions. Using the 2002 numbers, when many states were cutting taxes, meant that incomes appeared to have increased and, therefore, many families found themselves rendered ineligible for Pell Grants.

Some Congressional Democrats, such as Senator John Corzine of New Jersey, exposed the formula change for what it was. “I don’t know how the Bush administration can call themselves compassionate when they are throwing students out of the opportunity to seek a college education. It is now clear to me that this was a backdoor attempt to cut funding from the Pell Grant program.”

Although Steve “Bobst Boy” Stanzak’s story is rare, finding students with his dedication to education and his lack of resources is not. Erica Abrahamsen pointed out, “Since there is so much emphasis on getting a degree, I think that the government should do a lot more to make sure that everyone is given the opportunity.” College has become almost as necessary and assumed as a high school diploma, a $100,000 dollar ticket to a good job. Without it the road only gets steeper. The administration needs to offer young people a hand out of debt and into opportunity.

Michelle Paladino is participating in American University’s Washington Semester Program and working as an intern at the Center for American Progress. Michelle previously interned in the development division at Human Rights Watch and at Project Sunshine, a small non-profit organization that provides social services to hospitalized children. She has since founded and manages a large volunteer PS chapter at New York University, where she is a junior enrolled in the honors politics major.

Illustration by Matt Bors