[Oasfaa] Unaccompanied homeless youth

[Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC)]

On our campus, we rarely - OK, almost never - have the situation arise in which a student indicates homeless or at risk of homelessness. However, we have one now.

It is his first semester with us, and the student is a dependent student and we have a valid ISIR in which the parents' information is present, and we awarded aid based upon that. The student, however, has submitted a new ISIR transaction in which he self-identified as at risk of homelessness.

All we have so far is a written statement, from the student to my office, in which he details the series of terrible circumstances that have befallen his family and him in the last 18 or so months. They have all led to parents' inability to help him, his couch surfing due to an inability to afford rent (or sleeping in his car), an inability to repair his car, and the list goes on.

If his circumstances are true, I obviously don't want to create an obstacle for him. However, with the information we have so far, it sounds unlikely that we will be able to obtain a verification of his status from a third party as listed in GEN 15-16 or the Handbook. GEN 15-16 states that we are required to make a homeless youth determination when the request is made. However, I need to know what documentation you might have gathered if this situation has arisen on your campus. Like I said, at the moment, all I have at the moment is the student's handwritten statement. I have a call into the College's Student Affairs contact, but beyond that, I don't know what will be considered sufficient but not a barrier to the student.

If I have no way to validate his status, but this request is made by the student with the new ISIR, do I still forge ahead with the ISIR correction since the language states "FAAS are required..."?

Any suggestions?

Mendy Schmerer, MEd, FAAC(r)
Director, Office of Student Financial Aid | SWASFAA President, 2020 - 2021
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
865 University Research Park, Suite 240 | Oklahoma City, OK  73104
O (405) 271-2118, x 48817 | F (405) 271-5446
Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu<mailto:Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu>
https://financialservices.ouhsc.edu/Departments/Student-Financial-Aid
www.facebook.com/OUHSCFinancialAid<http://www.facebook.com/OUHSCFinancialAid>

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