The result has exceeded expectations. Last year, when the reservation of university places for young people supervised by the Administration was launched, it was unknown what the answer would be, since it was not known how many aspired to study a career. Two were enrolled this way. It was thought that this year a dozen would do so. And there have been 28 (and eight that did not need this measure in favor of equity because they obtained a sufficient grade).
This is a success considering the difficulties of getting to university, which Rosa G., ex-tutelage and student of the last year of Mathematics, explains in detail in this report. Only 4% of those who go through a residential center enroll in a university degree, a figure ten times lower than that of young people of the same age who are not homeless. In Catalonia, there are 122 ex-tutelages who study on a campus.
“Getting to university in these circumstances is very difficult,” says Rosa G. (Barcelona, 2000) “You have to be very clear that you want to study and stick with that goal in ESO and high school because the general conditions don't help. Because you don't have, in the center you don't even have a table to do your homework”.
Rosa entered a residential educational action center (CRAE) at the age of 16, along with her two sisters and after experiencing a complicated situation in which she had to take care of the little ones (then, 14 and 10 years old).
“There is so much going on downtown. One day we were 7 people and, the next day, 15. One has a crisis and they have to contain him, another tries to escape, many are depressed or angry”. The atmosphere is not relaxed. “They called me weird, but I like to read, learn, go to museums, and that is not usual. I had classmates who couldn't read."
However, it does not charge against the centers. “They saved me. They removed my lice, gave me clothes and food. Going to a center is a thousand times better than living in a house where they don't treat you well”. She had attention from educators and teachers who were concerned about his well-being. "You want them to love you a little, but, in the end, that's their job, and no matter how hard they try, you know it, just like you know that this is not your home."
In his opinion, it is difficult for people who have been in a center since they were 3 years old, who have grown up without family ties and in a context of instability, to be serene, which is what is needed to learn. In those conditions, it's not studying what provides security, he explains, but putting yourself in the best place to overcome what happens on the next screen. The priority is to survive because you are alone, anything can happen and you have to be alert. "I speak in general, not everything is a drama, beautiful things also happen."
He continued going to his school in Gràcia. “I had friends there, but it is strange to live in a center. They ask you what you did to be there. I answered: 'Well, look, being born'. How to explain that my parents were not optimal to take care of us?
Rosa touched the 12th in selectivity and was able to enter the degree and the university she wanted, Mathematics at the Autònoma de Barcelona. “I was the only one in my center. But it's normal, the university entrance exams are at 18 years old and at that age you have to emancipate yourself with the pay they give you (664 euros a month) and you don't know where you'll go. Even if they help you find a place, they help you. Therefore, in the center they do not encourage you to study but rather to be autonomous to live without help”.
So while studying for the PAU, he had to cook dinner, to learn how to cook, or successfully complete a tour of the city that ended at a specific recycling point in order to demonstrate his skills. Another priority is preparing them for work. There are work programs and economic support. “Who lives with less than 700 a month? Rent, food, clothing, transportation, mobile, university”.
He took out the note. And she turned 18 years old. She was given a place in a flat that she calls the “area floor”, perhaps in reference to the supervised flats of the Support Area for young people under care. “Only those of us who had a clear project went to these apartments, because there are very few of them,” she considers. She paid 50 euros rent in a shared room.
The right to stay in these apartments is linked to the acceptance, by the young person, of an individualized work plan, which allows the Administration to monitor. “They are fine, and thanks to that I now have savings, but they had a lot of rules. Let's see, we couldn't sleep outside or bring kids upstairs, or light candles... and they forced us to save 300 euros a month. So many rules for people who are 18, 19, 20 years old and want to live."
So to earn money, she worked in a parking garage, in a bar, in a clothing store, as a robotics teacher, and in a museum. "You have to work in the dark or calculate how much you can earn so that they don't take away the pay you are entitled to until you are 24 years old."
For rent, he paid little tuition. But he lost the scholarships from the ministry by not passing all the subjects. He has one course left. “I have cried in the race because it is not easy. Luckily I have found teachers who have encouraged me to continue ”.
This voluntary help from teachers is what the new project of the Rovira Virgili University (Com-Exito-Ed) wants to systematize, which offers a reference professor, guidance and economic support (food and material), on the condition that they approve. It will start on the Tarragona campus next year.
Rosa maintains a complicated relationship with her family. "My mother loves me, I know, but it's not right." She is a successful woman in her professional life. "So sometimes I go to the clinic and look at her just to see her look normal." She adores her grandmother. "She taught me to read and to add," she says gratefully, "she is always there, but this situation is so complicated that she surpasses it."
Still, she doesn't feel unlucky. “I have problems, but no more than other people who have a home. I have friends, I travel and I am building a future that I like. I have decided to be happy, the rest is hard for me. Also, precisely because of what I have lived through, I am one of the most interesting people I know my age.”
