1st Gen Low Income student facing homelessness

Hi all, my name is Larissa Flores. I am a First Generation, Low-Income student at Columbia Engineering studying Biomedical Engineering. During my freshman year, I unfortunately suffered many complications due to many unresolved psychiatric issues, including body dysmorphia, eating disorders, gender dysphoria and severe depression, which culminated in suicidal ideation, leading me to land at a psychiatric facility for about a week at the end of my second semester.

I have had these issues since early childhood, but they have largely gone untreated as my parents do not consider mental health to be a legitimate concern. As such, I have not been able to have access to psychotherapy until moving out to college. I have been on an SSRI since leaving the hospital. While usually the bulk of these costs are covered by my school insurance, there are still co-payments and other fees associated with these costs that I rely on my parents for. Since telling them that I intend to take a year-long medical leave to recoup and focus on my mental health, they have accused me of lying my way into hospitalization, and of wanting to "lazily" take time off from school. Ultimately, tensions rose until the point at which I have now been kicked out of my home.

I will be staying at a friend's house for a few weeks, but I am searching for an apartment to rent and live in independently for the next 3 years. I have about $30,000 in scholarship funds to cover some initial expenses, but this will not be sufficient to cover the 3 years of rent that I intend to pay before graduation, at which point I intend to have a solid job and a more stable situation. I'm looking at an apartment that costs around $1,400 a month, which would total about $50,000 for all 3 years. This does not factor in gas, internet, and phone bills, nor does it cover food expenses. This also does not factor in the costs of my psychiatric resources, which therapy being $20 a week and psychiatric appointments for my SSRI refills costing $200 every few months. I do not anticipate tuition being an issue, as fortunately, all of my costs for attending Columbia are covered by the University and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation's scholarship.

I intend to find some form of employment (optimistically a main, in person job coupled with some online side gigs) in order to make some income during the remainder of my gap year. Once I am back in school, I will be pursuing work study.

Doing the math, I'm looking at around $80,000 needed to cover my living expenses for the next three years. While I intend to put in the work to sustain myself as best as I can, I am obviously not in a very secure position. As such, anything you can contribute would be immensely appreciated. Thank you so much for reading this.

My Venmo is LFlores511

My Zelle is under my email: larissa s flores [email redactado]

-Larissa Flynn Flores (they/them/theirs)