In an era when attending college can cost $40,000 a year or more, hardship tales abound. But few match Steve Stanzak's curious story of his last eight months as a homeless sophomore at New York University, sleeping six hours a night in the subbasement of the Bobst Library, showering in the gym or at friends' apartments, doing his homework at a nearby McDonald's and subsisting mostly on bagels and orange juice.
As he put it on the Internet, where he has spent four or five months recounting his adventure, it was "the tale of a penniless boy and his quest to gain a college education." He said he took refuge in the library after being denied adequate financial aid, and described himself as "a furtive figure amongst dusty stacks of books, below the offices of the elite administrators of the university."
Could it really be true?
That is hard to say.
N.Y.U. officials, when they learned of his Web site (homelessatnyu.com/home.php) last week and read his online diary, quickly invited him in for a conversation and then gave him a free room in one of their residence halls for the rest of the semester.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/nyregion/27NYU.html?ex=1084043877&ei=1&en=81a0f35cc598afdb
As he put it on the Internet, where he has spent four or five months recounting his adventure, it was "the tale of a penniless boy and his quest to gain a college education." He said he took refuge in the library after being denied adequate financial aid, and described himself as "a furtive figure amongst dusty stacks of books, below the offices of the elite administrators of the university."
Could it really be true?
That is hard to say.
N.Y.U. officials, when they learned of his Web site (homelessatnyu.com/home.php) last week and read his online diary, quickly invited him in for a conversation and then gave him a free room in one of their residence halls for the rest of the semester.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/nyregion/27NYU.html?ex=1084043877&ei=1&en=81a0f35cc598afdb
