The result has exceeded expectations. Last year, when the reservation of university places for young people supervised by the Administration was launched, it was not known what the answer would be, since it was not known how many aspired to study a career. Two were enrolled in this way. It was thought that ten would enroll this year. And there have been 28 (and 8 who did not need this measure in favor of equity because they got enough marks).
This is a success considering the difficulties of getting to university, which Rosa G., extutelada and student in 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 destitute. In Catalonia, there are 122 extutelates studying on one campus.
“Getting to university in these circumstances is very difficult”, says Rosa G. (Barcelona, ??2000). “You have to be very clear about what you want to study and stay on target in ESO and baccalaureate because the general conditions don’t help. Because you don’t have one, in the center you don’t even have a table to do homework”.
Rosa entered a residential educational action center (CRAE) at the age of 16, with her two sisters and after experiencing a complicated situation in which she had to take care of the girls (then aged 14 and 10 years).
“So many things happen in the center. One day, there were 7 of us and the next, 15. One has a seizure and they have to restrain 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’s not the most common thing. I had classmates who couldn’t read.”
However, he does not charge against the centers. “They saved me. They took out my lice, gave me clothes and food. Going to a center is a thousand times better than living in a house where you are not treated well.” He had the attention of educators and teachers who were concerned about his well-being. “You want them to love you a little, but, in the end, it’s their job, and no matter how hard they try, you know it, just like you know it’s not your home.”
According to his opinion, it is difficult for people who have been in a center since the age of 3, who have grown up without family ties and in a context of instability, to be calm, which is what is needed to learn. In those conditions, it’s not studying that provides security, he explains, but placing yourself in the best place to overcome whatever happens on the next screen. The priority is to survive because you are alone, anything can happen and you have to be alert. “I’m talking in general, not everything is a drama, beautiful things also happen.”
Rosa continued to go to her school in Gràcia. “I had friends there, but it’s 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 passed grade 12 in the selectivity and was able to enter the degree and university she wanted, Mathematics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. “I was the only one in my center. But it’s normal, because the university entrance exams are held at the age of 18 and that’s the age at which the wards must become emancipated. They give you a salary (664 euros per month) and you don’t know where you will go. And you feel restless even if they help you find a place, that they help you. Therefore, at the center they don’t encourage you to study but to be independent in order to live without help”.
So while studying for PAU he had to make dinner, to learn how to cook, or successfully complete a tour of the city that ended at a specific recycling point in a way that demonstrated his skills. Another priority is preparing them for work. There are employment and economic support programs. “It is difficult. Who lives on less than 700 a month? Rent, food, clothes, transport, cell phone, university”.
He took out the note. And he was 18 years old. They provided her with a place in a flat that she calls the “area flat”, perhaps referring to the supervised flats of the Support Area for young people under supervision. “In these flats we only went there who had a clear project, because there are very few”, he explains. I paid 50 euros for 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 follow up. “They are good, and thanks to that I now have savings, but they had a lot of rules. Let’s see, we couldn’t sleep outside or have boys upstairs, or light candles… and they forced us to save 300 euros a month. There are many rules for people who are 18, 19, 20 years old and want to live”.
To earn money, he worked in a parking lot, in a bar, in a clothing store, taking robotics classes and in a museum. “You have to work in the dark or calculate how much you can earn so that they don’t take the pay you’re entitled to until you’re 24.”
For income, he paid little tuition. But he lost the scholarships from the ministry because he did not pass all the subjects. He has one course left. “I cried during the race because it’s not easy. Luckily, I found teachers who encouraged me to continue”.
This voluntary help from teachers is what the new project of Rovira i Virgili University (Com-Exito-Ed) wants to systematize, which offers a reference teacher, guidance and financial support (food and materials), on the condition that they approve.
Rosa maintains a complicated relationship with her family. “My mother loves me, I know, but she is not well.” She is a woman who is doing well in her professional life. “So sometimes I go to the clinic and observe her just to see that she looks normal.” He adores his grandmother. “She is always there and she taught me to read and add – she says gratefully – but this situation is beyond her”.
Despite everything, Rosa does not feel unlucky. “I have problems, but no less 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 other things, I care. In addition, precisely because of what I have experienced, I am one of the most interesting people I know of my age.”