SAVE A USC STUDENT FROM HOMELESSNESS my name is a.j. salazar bexton. i was homeless & independent at the age of 17 in Bakersfield, California. now im 24 and about to be homeless again in Los Angeles. im mixed, Indigenous, Queer, trans, Ecuadorian, Californian, and neurodiverse. my lease ends July 31st — today is July 23rd — I don’t have money to house myself. the University of Southern California promised financial equity and accessibility, but failed me. this is my third year begging for help. here is a breakdown of financial burdens on me as of today: Rent & Utilities owed from current place: $4,773 Rent from Last year (2024-22) (risk of being sued): $4,173 Money owed to Friends & Family: $3,000 Im being sued for an old credit card: $3100 money owed to bank from car that was repossessed last year: $12,500 “new” Broken car, Smog, Registration: $500 Medical Debt (low estimate i stopped paying): $1200 Total Student loans maxed: $45,000 Other old credit card debts: ??? (was over 20k — but most in collections & will probably be lower & sued for soon) WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME? i can’t move to a new home. me and my cats are at risk of losing everything. no transportation in LA. i don’t eat properly most days. i work nonstop. majority of belongings thrown out/sold (each year) my car was taken away last summer (and i still owe money). hard to even work. need new clothes, shoes, underwear. i don’t have mental health services. i can’t afford to go to the dentist. depressed most of the time. i have to take incomplete classes every semester. no vacation/relaxing period of time in recent memory. difficulty maintaining relationship w/o time & money. my phone has been turned off at times. my account has been in the negative for months at a time. my family has been dying/sick over the last few years and i can’t see them. can’t take cats to vet. WHAT GOT ME HERE: I survived years of trauma and escaped a dire housing situation at the age of 17 and was living out of my car & on couches for about a year. I’ve been on my own since— everything I have I worked for. I would work 2/3 jobs with 60+ hours of work weekly from 2016 until 2024 when the pandemic happened. Lost my job serving, got into USC, decided to attend the “best film school in the world” since there was a promise of financial accessibility under Carol Folt in 2019. father was hospitalized in 2024, i was soon after hospitalized, started attending USC in person Fall 2024. I had told USC i didn’t have enough resources to survive, and every year USC did less and less to help my cost of living, taking Cal Grants, Pell Grants, & Scholarships for themselves. They promised tuition to be paid and they lied. They spent all my money on their tuition and left me NONE for food and housing. I relied on the little loans I could, and then was not enough — even at its MOST. I was charged over $4,000 for a class I didn’t take last semester at USC (Spring 2024) that they refused to refund me for (i didn’t realize they had charged me by the time the semester started and my aid package came up 4k short). I GO TO FILM SCHOOL. one of “THE BEST IN THE WORLD.” I do not have time to work during my semester. I barely have time to eat. Yet i’m left with no money to eat, and no time to get money. For years I’ve been reaching out to ALL USC resources without any aid or help. HOW CAN YOU HELP? SHARE MY STORY Financial Aid: venmo: ajbexton zelle: [phone redacted] cashapp: $monsamaris Help Find housing options around USC. fight for a better future with me. follow for more updates as i work for my survival & others like me at USC.
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