A cross-campus study found that 47% of students at four-year institutions experience food insecurity and enrollment projections indicate that this population will continue to grow.
Students cannot be expected to achieve academic success or personal wellness until they meet their basic needs. Supporting food and housing security on campus should be a crucial priority for chief student affairs officers and other senior leaders.
This resource is part of the Address Food and Housing Insecurity on Campus Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.
We identified three specific areas for campuses to address students’ basic needs security:
Reduce barriers that prevent students from connecting to resources Cultivate a campus-wide referral network Explore sustainable funding and staffing models that can scale to meet students’ growing demand for basic needs support services Section 1: Maximizing Connectedness to Existing ResourcesResources already exist on campus and in the community to help basic needs-insecure students without new investments or programs. Campuses can centralize information, provide guided application support, and create structured channels for surplus resources to support struggling students.
Recommendation 1: Centralize InformationStudents can be overwhelmed when trying to find resources to address their food and housing needs. The burden of independently tracking down these resources can feel especially high while also balancing school, work, and personal obligations. The University of California Berkeley (Berkeley) built a Basic Needs Resource Portal to simplify that process for students.
Inventory Available Local Resources
Basic Needs Committee engages in one-time audit of available resources for students experiencing food and/or housing insecurity
Centralize Information Online
Resources are compiled and organized into an…