4 I The Behrend Beacon
Behrend's housing issues
force student to live
While other students in college
were having a hard time adjust
ing to living in their dorm rooms,
Jake Hasson was finding his '94
Chrysler Concord to be home
sweet home.
While a junior at Penn State
Behrend, Jake Hasson dealt first
hand with the struggle to find
housing on campus. After stay
ing with his brother his sopho
more year, finding on-campus
housing became an impossible
task for Hasson in his next year.
Hasson's junior year was not a
fortunate one. For three weeks.
no one on campus got to know
their car better. After a failed
attempt to live on campus and
denying the offered Days Inn
housing for its inconvenience.
Hasson was couch hopping and
spending his nights in his '94
Chrysler Concord.
I spent the first week of my
junior year on someone s
loveseat. and when you're 6'4."
sleeping on a loveseat is not that
easy." said Hasson.
When it came time to sleep in
his car. Hasson remarked that
finding somewhere to keep up
his hygiene routine was not a
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simple task. "There were times
that I would bring everything
that I owned in my bag and
shower at the Junker Center,"
said Hasson.
As of this year, the total enroll
ment of Penn State undergradu
ates is 4,029 with only 1,673 stu
dents living on campus. That
While other students
in college were hav
ing a hard time
adjusting to living in
their dorm rooms,
Jake Hasson was
finding his '94
Chrysler Concord to
be home-sweet home.
leaves 1356 students living off
campus, according to the
Admissions office. The enroll
ment just keeps getting bigger
and bigger, said Mary-Ellen
Madigan, Director of
Admissions and Financial Aid.
Whether or not students are com
muting to school or not, the fact
CAMPUS NEWS
in car
remains that there are still sever
al students that are unable to ever
have on-campus housing at all.
If you do happen to find your
self on the waiting list for on
campus housing, the college has
offered housing to students at the
Days Inn, which includes free
shuttle service back and forth
from the college. Yet only eight
Behrend students this year have
chosen to live there, reported the
Days Inn.
The good news is that there are
ways to ensure on-campus hous
ing when you begin your educa
tion at Behrend. Madigan said
that students who do have trou
ble finding on-campus housing
are usually not taking the right
steps. Penn State suggests that
students make sure to apply for
admission before Nov. 30 of
their senior year of high school
to have a better chance of gain
ing on campus housing. Also, to
ensure admission, another sug
gestion is to make certain that all
requirements are fulfilled and
that the offer of admission is
accepted before May I.
Cardboard City
continued from front page
choosing. Then, at least one per
son from the group must occupy
the house at all times for the next
24 hours. This year's City
kicked off at 7 p.m. Wednesday
and concluded at 7 p.m.
Thursday.
Students did not spend a night
freezing outside for no reason.
All proceeds go to the Second
Harvest Food Bank, a non-profit
food distribution organization
for Northwest Pennsylvania.
Cardboard City also aims to raise
awareness about homelessness
and bring the issue of poverty
closer to students who may have
never really considered it before.
"Everyone should know what
it is like," said Brad Fitch, who
was manning a box for
Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship. "It's a small taste of
how some people live all of the
Fitch spent a total of 15 hours
in his group's box, and slept in it
overnight. He fought off the
below freezing temperatures
with a sleeping bag and several
blankets, and managed to snatch
a couple of hours of sleep during
the night.
By 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the
Intervarsity house had raised
roughly $250. Since $1 buys $l7
worth of food through the
Second Harvest Food Bank,
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"When we take a look at the budget for the
National Institutes of Health at $2B billion, it is,
candidly, 5 scandalous that with out roliw,cfs, - * .
resource capability, research capability in biomed
ical science, that people are still dying of breast
cancer or colon cancer or heart disease."
- Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA.)
Fall 2009 Housing
STILL AVAILABLE
lntervarsity alone raised enough
money to buy $4,250 worth of
It was Fitch's fifth year of par
ticipation, and he was mostly
glad that it wasn't raining.
According to Fitch, it has rained
every year except for an excep-
"Everyone
should know
what it is like.
It's a small
taste of how
some people
live all of the
time."
- Brad Fitch,
History major
tionally dry and warm 2003.
Nevertheless, he was prepared
for the worst with tarps covering
the roof of his cardboard house.
Another tip only a veteran would
know; he had constructed his
shanty with the door facing
away from the west and away
from the wind.
Opportunities
Friday, October 24, 2008
Jeff Barber of the
Interfraternity Council shanty
located outside of Senat Hall,
however, was coming to the end
of his first Cardboard City. He
too had stayed the night, and
used a bedding of cardboard and
more than seven blankets to
keep warm when the tempera
ture dipped below thirty degrees.
Minutes away from his release
from the box, he was still able to
say that it was a worthwhile
experience. Barber said that it
was fun to stay up for the major
ity of the night, listening to
music and bonding with other
people involved in the Greek life
at Behrend. Residents of the IFC
house jokingly referred to it as
"Greek row." Regardless, he was
looking forward to leaving his
box and getting back home.
"The first thing I'm going to do
is take an hour-long hot shower,
and then crawl into bed."
Cardboard City is a worth
while event that helps support
people who do not get to leave
their box for a hot shower and a
warm room at the end of the day.
By the end of the 24 hours,
Behrend raises thousands of dol
lars worth of food for the home
less. More than that, students
bridge a gap between those with
a roof and those on the streets to
build an understanding that will
hopefully last a lifetime.