<p>The past two days, I've slept in the library or the computer lab, taking advantage of their 24 hours to prepare for an exam, finish a a problem and complete lab work all due around the same day. (I studied with friends of course, who experienced similar conditions. Couldn't have the morale without them.) </p>
<p>But it made me think .... couldn't I save thousands of dollars every year by just bringing a blanket and sleeping in the common facilities, and then washing up / brushing teeth in the locker rooms of my school's pool? (I swam a bit and worked out after each time, to keep myself awake. It works like magic.) </p>
<p>Has anyone thought of this before? Vagrancy for a semester?</p>
<p>Holy crap, I'm going to pretend to be a hobo for at least one week in college, thanks to your post.</p>
<p>I'll get all my friends to do it too - we can have a Hobo Week. Maybe include a small fee and make it a fundraiser. But people don't pay to be hobos, do they?</p>
<p>Then you could save money in the real world my doing the same type of thing. With no expenses, you won't even need a job! man, you've got it all figured out</p>
<p>You COULD but it'd cramp your style quite a bit. Trying to take a girl home for the night? "Welcome to the library baby." </p>
<p>But really, you need a mailing address. I suppose a PO box may do but it won't for everything. I also don't know where you'd keep everything, except maybe your car. There are also some mental issues you'd run in to from not having a "home base," and if the school caught on they'd probably kick you out as a health hazard or something. Showering at the pool and sleeping in the library for a night is a lot different when you actually do have a shower and bed to go home to.</p>
<p>One of my fellow grad students is going without an apartment this year since he has to send back a large chunk of his stipend to support family in his home country, but he has a very large office to himself. As an undergrad (or a grad student shoved in an office with three other students) where would you keep stuff?</p>
<p>wasn't there an NYU student a few years ago that did this? he couldn't afford housing? I think he got caught and they ended up giving him housing, but I'm not sure about that.</p>
<p>I was homeless for about a month and a half this semester. I did it at first just to see what it was like. Then, when I realized that there wasn't any housing available, I ended up stuck in that situation. </p>
<p>The reality of being homeless is much different than imagining it. First you get a small panic attack, thinking "where am I going to sleep tonight?" Sleeping in the common area on a long-term basis isn't doable unless you have incredible self-confidence, because really when you bed down for the night you're letting your guard down. You also run the risk of being disturbed by other students/cleaning staff/security. I ended up sleeping in my car in the back corner of a walmart parking lot, with sheets covering all the windows. Never got bugged, except once when a couple students stopped by to laugh. You can get decent sleep, but you'll wake up tired more often because sleeping on a hard seat back is much different than sinking into a soft mattress. </p>
<p>Going to the bathroom in these cramped quarters just sucks because you have to physically contort yourself into position and pray, in your half-asleep fog, that you're aiming into the bottle and not at your pillow. Oh yes, it also gets very cold at night, so even if you have to go, you'll seriously consider holding it until morning, rather than crawling out of your warm sleeping bag.</p>
<p>Parking is a pain. Unless you have a free parking spot near campus, you'll either be doing a lot of walking (several miles a day) or be betting against the cops leaving you a ticket. I got a few tickets. They add up fast, man.</p>
<p>Showering at the gym works out fine. You may find you do more studying due to lack of distractions at home. After a while though the lack of personal space and privacy will start to get to you, when the most secluded space you can find is a bathroom stall or a cramped car at night. It helped me to have "sanity breaks" and go home on weekends. You come back recharged and ready for another week of this.</p>
<p>This all probably sounds horrible, but you do adapt over time. Honestly, I'll probably end up doing it again at some point, just to save money, but I highly discourage it unless you have a car. Just know that wistfully imagining being homeless while you're walking back to your heated apartment to play video games is totally different than living the cold reality.</p>
<p>The library is always crowded, even at 4 am .... save Friday nights (or Saturday mornings, rather). So I'm not really worried about security issues and stuff.</p>