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We call them “students,” but the reality is that their identities are much more complex, and their ability to succeed on campus is affected by far more than meets the eye.
This is a reality that Long Beach City College (LBCC) in California and San Juan College in New Mexico know all too well. Like many community colleges, both schools have a considerable percentage of students struggling with basic needs insecurity.
In the spring, the New Mexico Higher Education Department and the University of New Mexico’s Basic Needs Project researchers conducted the first statewide survey of basic needs insecurity amongst students, faculty, and staff in higher education, said Dr. Toni Hopper Pendergrass, president of San Juan College.
“The results were staggering,” she said. “63% of San Juan College respondents had experienced some form of basic needs insecurity in the last twelve months. 56% of students reported experiencing food insecurity in the last 30 days, 59% reported experiencing housing insecurity sometime in the last 12 months, and 13% reported being homeless.”
Similarly, LBCC conducted a district-wide basic needs survey. Dr. Mike Muñoz, Long Beach Community College District’s Superintendent-President, shared some of the results: “44% of survey respondents experienced limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food in a socially acceptable manner in the prior 30 days, and 54% of survey respondents experienced one or more challenges that prevented them from having a safe, affordable, and consistent place to live in the previous year.”
Staggering, indeed, but it is a challenge the schools have embraced wholeheartedly.
“Delivering essential services is integral to [our students’] success at LBCC,” says Dr. Muñoz. “If we want to achieve equitable outcomes and increased success rates for our students, then we must acknowledge their lived experiences beyond campus and take care of their human needs first.”
Using LBCC and San Juan College as models, the following is a roadmap you can use to guide efforts at your own institution.
Identifying Needs
The first step for colleges looking to address basic needs insecurity is to understand the scope of the problem and the needs specific to their student body (as well as faculty and staff, who are often forgotten but may need to utilize services like food pantries).
A report entitled “Mission Critical: The Role of Community Colleges in Meeting Students’ Basic Needs” tells us that 29% of community college students are food insecure and 14% are housing insecure.
“I am not surprised by these statistics; however, I am disheartened,” Dr. Pendergrass told us. “So that these statistics are more digestible, let’s look at this issue from a very micro- level. Specifically, let’s look at a classroom with 24 students. What this tells us is that of those 24 students, seven students are food insecure and three students are housing insecure.”
Do you know how your school stacks up against these numbers?
Dr. Muñoz recommends that colleges start by conducting a needs assessment and gathering data.
“During the early months of the pandemic, LBCC created an emergency aid application to ask students if they were experiencing housing, food, and transportation insecurities,” he says. “This was one of the first opportunities for LBCC to hear directly from students about the challenges they were facing. It was through this form that we discovered that more than 70 LBCC students were sleeping in their vehicles. Since then, all LBCC students take a pre-registration survey that includes questions about barriers they are facing.”
Likewise, San Juan College has worked to shift from intervening amid a crisis to proactively assisting students. They, too, have implemented a basic needs intake survey, with baseline data being collected this fall and a goal to survey every student each semester.
“Collecting student basic needs information is the foundation for addressing basic needs insecurities on a college campus,” Dr. Pendergrass says. “Campus specific information is necessary to request grants and financial assistance, and it guides the provision of resources and supports.”
Creating Resources
Once you have the data and know what type of challenges students are facing, you can devise a plan to address them.
“Colleges must take intentional efforts to provide strategic services and resources to meet our students’ basic needs if we expect them to be successful in their courses,” Dr. Muñoz explains. “It is unfair and unrealistic to ask our students to perform in their academics if they do not have safe and stable way to access food and housing. The high prevalence of basic needs insecurities is not unique to LBCC. If we strive for equitable outcomes in our success rates for all students, then we must address the basic needs barriers.”
LBCC has a centralized Basic Needs Center and on-campus food pantry to provide a single-stop shop for food, housing, and transportation resources. Other highlights include partnering with T-Mobile Assurance to offer free phone service, partnering with Verizon for free tablets and Wi-Fi service, offering a free clothing closet, and partnering with local dentists to provide free dental services, among others.
San Juan College has created on-campus housing to address housing and transportation insecurities, operates a food pantry that is funded by other food banks and donors, and works with their on-campus food service vendor to provide hot food vouchers. Through various grants and partnerships, they are also able to offer on-campus childcare for student-parents, as well as assistance paying for childcare.
“Partnerships with on-campus programs, faculty, and community-based organizations are also key at LBCC,” Dr. Muñoz says. “LBCC has benefited from establishing a strong network of local housing providers, in order to provide referrals regardless of what a student’s experience or identity is. Some programs focus solely on a specific population such as Transition Aged Youth, women, and student parents. So, it is extremely beneficial to have a wide network to prevent any gaps in services.”
Identifying Students in Need and Raising Awareness
“If you build it, they will come” doesn’t necessarily hold true when it comes to basic needs centers.
LBCC is no stranger to the struggles of building awareness for vital resources.
“Based on our Fall 2021 Student Experience Survey, we discovered that: 14% of students were not aware [of the basic needs program] or didn’t know where it was located; and 3% said they didn’t know how to get help to use this service,” Dr. Muñoz admits.
Students can’t take advantage of resources that they aren’t aware of. You will need faculty and staff to serve as champions of these efforts — to understand when and where to refer students — as well as a robust communication program.
“Too often, we wait for students to hit a crisis moment to provide resources and supports, instead of proactively providing resources and supports to students before they end up in crisis,” Dr. Pendergrass cautions. “Too often, we rely on a handful of people to address these needs. In order for us to make a meaningful difference in reducing basic needs insecurity, we need campus-wide engagement. We need all of our employees to understand the extent of need on our campuses and how to help students connect with the help that is available.”
Campus-wide education campaigns can help set the stage for faculty, staff, and students.
Additionally, you will need to put systems in place to identify students in need. Dr. Muñoz advises “proactively engaging and informing students at multiple touchpoints about available resources rather than wait for students to visit a centralized basic needs office.”
San Juan College also puts in the legwork to reach students early.
“Through varying measurements, surveys, and outreach, our student coaches [in the student achievement center] identify students who have unmet basic needs and then case manage those students to customize a support program suited to their needs through either direct on-campus resources or through partnerships with outside community agencies to provide pre-qualification for services and/or referral.”
Remember
A student’s success hinges on their ability to focus on their academic work. When they are facing unmet basic needs, it is no surprise that there are gaps in achievement, degree completion, and, ultimately, future career opportunities. Community colleges may have a higher percentage of students struggling with basic needs insecurity, but the issue certainly isn’t limited to these institutions. All colleges must start evaluating and solving these challenges if they haven’t already. It won’t be an easy road, but it is one worth traveling. “Addressing food and housing insecurities is a complex undertaking and deserves dynamic and focused leadership,” advises Dr. Pendergrass.
