Resources for K-12 & Postsecondary Students

Resources Written by Students, For Students

Explore student-written resources to guide you through K-12, higher education, and beyond. These tools cover topics like homelessness, financial aid, child care, lease reviewing, cell phone plans, and more.

Am I experiencing homelessness?

Use this resource to help you see if you meet this definition of homelessness, and if so, how you can access education and other resources.
Find Out

If you are staying temporarily with someone else because you had to leave your home, or staying in a motel, campground, shelter, or in an outside or inadequate place, you have special rights at your school (elementary, middle, and high school). Those rights include:

  • Staying in the same school even if you move, and receiving transportation to that school, as long as it is in your best interest.
  • Enrolling in school immediately without the documents schools usually require, and without a parent or guardian.
  • Receiving free school meals.
  • Getting help with school supplies, including what is needed to participate in distance learning and other needs.

While these rights don’t apply in college, there are important federal policies to help youth experiencing homelessness access financial aid.

Get Help With

Explore resources such as understanding homeless definitions, getting help with financial aid, accessing child care, reviewing a lease, choosing and buying a cell phone plan, and more.

Get help accessing K-12 education

Contact your school district’s local homeless education liaison to find out if you qualify for help, or ask a counselor, teacher, or other trusted adult to connect you to the liaison. Every school district is required to designate a local homeless education liaison, who is responsible for helping children and youth experiencing homelessness and connecting them with relevant local resources.

Homeless Education Directory

Youth Voices

At SchoolHouse Connection, we believe that young people are the experts on their experiences, needs and strengths. We are proud to provide this space for their perspectives.

“Homelessness isn’t some distant phenomenon that you see visibly only on the streets of Los Angeles or New York. Homeless people are everywhere. I went to a rich school in an affluent area, but I was still homeless. I did not sleep in a tent, or on a park bench, but I was still homeless.”
— Destiny, SHC Scholar, “Homelessness: They Just Don’t Get It”
“When I received the SchoolHouse Connection scholarship, I was living in a shelter and wondering where life would take me after graduation. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to afford it.”
— Syerra, SHC Scholar. “The SchoolHouse Connection Scholarship Changed My Life”
“Wherever I stayed and whoever I stayed with, regardless of their intent, if they learned about my sexuality, it still put me in the vulnerable position of unstable and inconsistent housing; and when I was already vulnerable, I felt like I needed to obscure that side of me as a means of exercising control in my life over what little I had authority: the story that I presented to others.”
— Bug, SHC Scholar, “Youth Homelessness & Queer Identity: There is No Single Story”

A Message From SchoolHouse Connection Scholars

Looking for other scholarship opportunities?

This spreadsheet is updated regularly, but deadlines and links may change prior to our updates. If you notice an error, let us know!

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