SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- A recent study of California's community colleges found that 1 in 5 students had been homeless in the past year.
To help these students, San Diego's community college district offers showers, priority class registration, food pantries, and help finding homeless services on and off campus.
But a new State Assembly bill aims to aid homeless students further by requiring schools to let them sleep in their vehicles overnight in campus parking lots and structures.
Assembly Bill 302, introduced earlier this year by Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto), specifies "that if a community college campus has parking facilities on campus, the governing board of the community college district (CCD) shall grant overnight access to those facilities to any homeless student for the purpose of parking the student’s vehicle overnight, provided the student: a) Is enrolled in coursework; b) Has paid enrollment fees, if not waived; and, c) Is in good standing with the CCD without requiring the student to enroll in additional courses."