On the morning of April 2, 2024, Wellesley students received an email pertaining to the summer housing application. In the email, the Office of Residential Life and Student Housing detailed that students seeking summer housing may include those participating in sponsored internships, summer science and social science research, on-campus student employees/fellows with a Wellesley College sponsoring department and students registered for one of the two in-person summer courses. The email immediately raised questions from financially independent students on campus. 

Financial independence, or being categorized as an “Unaccompanied Homeless Youth” as defined by the Office of the US Department of Education, includes youth who are “(1) unaccompanied and homeless or (2) unaccompanied, self-supporting, and at risk of being homeless. On Wellesley’s campus, 18 students are considered financially independent, according to an anonymous administrative source. 

Destiny Eversole ’27 aged out of foster care. Wanda ’25* was disowned. Piper Lloyd ’25, a trans student, no longer has a home in Oklahoma, his state of origin. Rory Lawless ’25 is considered independent due to issues at home. These students received the status of financial independence early in their time at Wellesley. 

“Generally, financially independent students either come from a foster care situation, they don’t have parents, they were disowned and/or they come from abusive situations. And that’s where I was coming from. So I was really grateful not to have to go home,” said Wanda.

In response to the announcement, Lloyd, Wanda, Eversole and Lawless, along with other FI (financially independent) community members, immediately emailed back expressing their confusion, fear and disbelief. 

“They’re removing the criteria of financial independence as being a reason for needing summer housing completely,” said Wanda ’25. “They sent that email to us a couple days ago — no warning. In fact, a few weeks before they sent that email, some of [the FI] community emailed confirming that they had summer housing based on their status, and they were told yes.”

“I assumed it was a mistake that we have been left off the list,” said Lloyd. 

Lloyd shared that after he emailed back, he received an automated response and was never contacted by a real person. Eversole sent a similar response, asking if leaving FI students off the list was a mistake and sharing that their financial aid officer confirmed they would be eligible for housing earlier in the year. She got the same automatic response. When Lawless sent an email, they were told to find alternate housing, despite the exorbitant short-term apartment prices in Wellesley and the great Boston area. 

“This was never announced to the student body, to admin or to faculty, we only found out when we tried to apply as we have been able to for the past multiple years,” said Eversole. Eversole explained that the FI population never got an explanation as to why the decision was made in the first place and that the new criteria for summer housing has numerous flaws. 

According to Eversole, the criteria that allow for summer housing has limited spots and is not accessible. The two 7-week in-person classes that Wellesley listed as an alternative reason to stay on campus are an upper-level biology class capped at 12 students and an upper-level chemistry class capped at 14 students. Both classes require prerequisite courses, are not open or accessible to first-year students and are not limited to financially independent students. For Eversole, as a QuestBridge match on full financial aid, the minimum that she predicts one class would cost is $500. Beyond that Wanda, Eversole and Lloyd expressed that as financially independent students, they support themselves by definition, meaning that most have to work to survive. That tends to mean that they have to get a job off-campus due to the limits that Wellesley places on how many hours are workable and the fact that they only pay minimum wage. Additionally, summer internships last a maximum of 12 weeks and do not allow off-campus work concurrently. 

“A lot of us are off campus and we cannot afford to rework around that schedule, which is also the problem with having an on-campus internship and an on-campus job. Because, for one, the deadlines for applications for almost all of those positions were over by the time we found out that we no longer qualified because they never announced that change,” said Eversole.

“A lot of us have jobs off campus that pay a lot better than doing on-campus work or we have internships that will help us in our future careers that require us not to have any other commitments like our REUs, research experience for undergrads, which are nationally funded and well known — they make you sign a contract that you will not take any classes, hold any other jobs, or do any other research. Those require that complete dedication. It’s a full immersion experience,” said Wanda.

Like Eversole, Wanda’s financial aid officer initially told them that as long as they were considered financially independent, they would qualify for housing across all breaks. Later in their time at Wellesley, Wanda received a call from SFS telling them that their counselor didn’t know what she was doing. 

“I know I personally had a confirmation from my financial aid advisor last semester (during the fall of 2023) that I qualified for housing. There have been reports from students online that up until two weeks before the deadline, they had confirmation. The biggest issue is the lack of communication and the lack of justification for this and the fact that admin is just not listening to students whatsoever,” said Eversole.

Those involved in the repercussions of the decision and lack of communication immediately rallied together, spreading their message online and across campus. 

“I sent out a mass email to a lot of the faculty, a lot of admin, the Board of Trustees, put together some of the people who have been working on the petition, our spam has been going up, [we made a] linktree and the email templates, things like that,” said Eversole. The linktree contains surveys, action items, documentation, administrative responses and testimonials of FI students. 

“A lot of admin, faculty, professors and staff have been incredibly supportive. They have been spreading the news. It’s been incredible,” shared Eversole, “Last time when we counted the signatures were at 1500, so ¼ of the entire student body has signed it.” Since the interview, the number of signatures has risen to over 2000. 

Their effort received enough student, alumni, faculty and partial administrative support that the Office of Residential Life and Student Housing allowed a one-time exception for the upcoming summer and issued an apology for the delayed announcement.  

“After we were able to raise awareness, that’s when they sent us a private email saying, ‘You misunderstood us,’ and, ‘You misread our email,’” said Wanda.

“It wasn’t an apology for the policy or that people were like, ‘Oh, I’m going to be homeless in a month and a half,’” said Lloyd, “It was like, ‘Sorry we told you too late that you were going to be homeless.’ It wasn’t an actual apology.”

“They’re just completely ignoring the fact that we’re not just trying to get summer housing for this upcoming summer. Every email that we have sent recently has just had an automated response, saying, ‘You have housing for [this] summer.’ We made it very clear that we’re no longer trying to get that, we’re trying to insulate it as a permanent change, or I guess, permanent reversal of the new policy,” said Eversole. 

“I was very thankful that people were so quick to hop on this and rally for this … but I feel like I’m a little worried because I feel like the heat is dying down a little, since people are like, ‘Oh, it’s fine. There’s an exemption.’ Next year, there won’t be an exemption,” said Lawless. 

According to all four interviewees, being financially independent at Wellesley has always been forcibly secretive, has always been a battle and has always been defeating. Wanda expressed that at one point they even thought they were the only FI student at the College.

“There’s nothing on the financial aid website that talks about this. Whenever I would go to financial aid or try to get a meeting, they would quickly whisk me back so nobody could overhear anything. I genuinely thought I was the only one,” said Wanda.

Wanda disclosed that in the summer of 2022, they had another issue receiving housing, sharing that their living arrangements at Wellesley have always been trauma-inducing. At the time, they were doing research and working on campus but were going abroad in the fall and needed bridge housing. Their request for housing between the end of their research and their travels was denied. They received curt, short responses from Student Housing and were told by the Dean’s Advisory Committee to find transitional housing at a homeless shelter — Dean Black sent them a list of homeless shelters, including the YWCA. Only after Wanda reached out to alumni and the student worker union did the college decide to let them in the College Club stay during the two weeks they needed housing. Wanda has also experienced this discriminatory treatment across other departments on campus, including the Title IX department, and they feel like their financial independence makes them seem like a lesser person to many faculty and administrators.

Lloyd had similar dismissive experiences.

“I think it’s one of those things where it’s like they don’t want you to talk about your tuition the same way employers don’t want you to talk about your salary,” said Piper Lloyd ’25. 

Lloyd revealed that, without housing in Massachusetts, he won’t receive hormone replacement therapy, as his state has not yet legalized it, and that if he is forced to couch-surf back home, he would be forcibly detransitioned for the summer. He is thankful that he received top surgery last summer, rather than this year when his housing in Massachusetts is being compromised by the college. He mentioned the possibility of the termination of his gender-affirming healthcare in his initial response to the first announcement and received no acknowledgment. 

Beyond that, Lloyd feels like the College does not want them here and worries that the additional stress will cause his academics to suffer. Eversole expressed that they feel patronized and dismissed. Wanda feels like there is no compassion for their situation, they are being treated inhumanely, and they are exhausted from having to constantly fight discrimination. 

“We want apologies because it’s exhausting every semester to deal with this. It’s traumatic to feel secure in your bed one day and then the next day have it be taken away. And then, oh, you have a pset due that day too. It’s very stressful,” said Wanda.

“I think it is an absolute atrocity that my new permanent address is kicking me out of my permanent address. I don’t understand really, I guess that’s the crux of my frustration. I already had to deal with being homeless once. Why are you making me do this again?” said Lawless.

Since her interview, Eversole has shared that the creation of an organization dedicated to financially independent students has been underway. The organization was approved by CORA on April 10 and awaits administrative approval. Organization members have met with Dean Horton, dean of students, Piper Ortan, vp of finance, and Brittany McDaniel, associate dean of residential life to discuss plans for the future and are building a foundation to obtain housing through both summer and winter breaks regardless of academic involvement. 

Wellesley Media Relations refers students to Dean Horton’s letter to the community and shared the answers to the following questions: 

Is Wellesley planning to reinstate financial independence as a sole qualification for housing during the summer 2025 session and beyond? 

“There are many reasons that students are defined as financially independent. We will continue to work with financially independent students, as we always have, to ensure that they have a housing plan for the summer.”

What justification does Wellesley have for removing financial independence as a sole qualifier for summer housing? 

“Financial independence was not meant to be a sole qualifier for summer housing. During Covid-19 we included this as a drop-down option on the student housing portal to make it easier because we understood that the pandemic conditions limited options for many students. But prior to that, we always worked with students individually for their summer or winter housing. Our peer institutions also work in the same way, supporting individual students but not listing this as a single qualification.”

What “alternative housing assistance” does Wellesley plan to offer to financially independent students who are unable to secure an on-campus job, internship, or class in the future if financial independence is not reinstated as a sole qualification?

“All students should be planning for their summer and winter breaks, and independent students should begin this process early to ensure that they have time to explore options and opportunities. The class deans and Career Education advisors work with students to think through options that make sense academically, and the residential life team is available to talk with students as well. Students may want to explore on-campus options, such as research, internships and employment, or may want to pursue opportunities in the area or elsewhere. Whether choosing to stay in the Boston area or going elsewhere, there are summer sublets available and many students take advantage of these. We are aware that there are costs involved, and although financial aid is not available for summer housing or meals, students are encouraged to meet with their SFS advisor as they plan ahead. When students are dealing with significant financial challenges, the WSAS is also an option to support students.”

A student reports that when asking for assistance finding summer housing, they were directed to homeless shelters in the area. Why was this a solution presented to a student, particularly considering that many Financially Independent Wellesley students aren’t eligible to stay at homeless shelters?

“We cannot comment on a specific student situation; however, we encourage any student who has a unique situation to speak with their class dean for support, or to reach out to the Associate Dean in the Office of Residential Life or Student Financial Services so we can talk through their options and provide appropriate support one-on-one.  What is most important is planning early for times outside of the academic year.”

*Names with asterisks* are pseudonyms representing anonymous sources. They were granted anonymity due to fear for their personal safety.