Apartment Choice

By Sarah Butrymowicz and Meredith Kolodner Alduha Leon and Jared Sanders, roommates at Savannah State University , dined on hot dogs in their apartment on Thanksgiving Day of their sophomore year. They had decided to skip feasting with family in Atlanta to pick up extra hours at their airport jobs loading luggage onto planes. Payday wasn’t until Friday, though, and Leon only had $5 left on his food stamps card . During the three years they spent at Savannah State , Sanders and Leon struggled to pay their tuition, fees and living expenses. They accumulated more than $50,000 in loans between the two of them, despite working up to 40 hours a week. After exhausting themselves working late or overnight shifts so they wouldn’t have to miss class, and finding their grades suffering, they dropped out in 2015, joining a growing pool of Georgians who have debt but no degree. More than 108,000 students who had taken out federal loans withdrew from Georgia’s public colleges and universities bet...

Sarah Lyon has lived in many gorgeous places, but her most recent move was back to a familiar landscape — the beautiful and bustling Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., a quick trip from her family’s hometown in Maryland. As a successful writer, blogger, and higher education professional , you’d think Sarah would barely have time to keep her apartment clean and entertaining-ready — but that’s certainly not the case. Now that Sarah’s in her first non-studio apartment, she’s combining her old favorite finds with some amazing new pieces to create the home of our dreams. Check out Sarah’s amazing artwork collection , her enviable Craigslist finds , and her totally relatable girl -crush. Name: Sarah Lyon, Communications Associate and Blogger Age: 25 Square Footage:  650 Rent or Own : Rent City, State: Washington, D.C. Congratulations on a big move! You’ve moved several times after graduating from college. What brought you to each different city? Although I went to college in rural...

A few months ago, the “ community room ” at La Mirada Apartments wasn ’t exactly a hub of community activity. A mop bucket and a rolled-up carpet occupied the space, and the roughly 150 children living in the apartment complex had no reason to give the room a second glance. But on June 19, a transformed room opened , with brightly colored walls , shelves of books and plenty of furniture for little people to spread out and read. The new focus of the room: literacy. The United Way of Manatee County debuted its READ UNITED Reading Room program for the children at La Mirada, in the Pride Park neighborhood . From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day, children can read, play and have access to books they likely would not see until school started again in the fall. “We are trying to bring reading and program access to students who need it the most,” said Cindy Cavallaro Day , a co-founder of Visible Men Academy and a consultant for United Way of Manatee County for the Suncoast Campaign for Grade...