Improve Institutional Support to Reduce Students’ Financial Stress

As economic inequality continues to grow, financial stress in college students has increased. This resource can be use to inform leadership about financial hardship and identify solutions.

Colleges and universities historically have paid full or near-full tuition and board for academically successful students from low-income backgrounds. However, in recent years, financial insecurity has increasingly taken on new forms, from basic needs to affording the college experience. Financial stress in college students has increased as more and more students struggle to pay their tuition, with an average unmet need of nearly $10,000 regardless of income level.

As economic inequality continues to grow, campus leaders know they must do more to support students. Use this executive briefing to inform campus leadership about the financial hardship students face and identify solutions to expand existing support, create new programming, and find alternative funding sources to scale programming.

First, audit campus services for financially insecure students

Financial insecurity resources are often developed ad-hoc across multiple departments, leaving students and administrators without a clear idea of what students can access. EAB recommends institutions conduct a thorough audit of services that support students’ financial security (e.g., grants, food pantry, scholarships) as the first step in scaling services. An audit helps identify duplicative services and gaps in offerings based on your unique student body’s needs.

What can an audit reveal?

Gaps in staff knowledge

Staff are unaware of service gaps because they don’t know what is and is not offered.

Lack of student awareness

Valuable financial supports go underutilized because students do not know about them.

Duplicative services

Multiple departments offer the same affordability resources, causing redundancy in service.

Centralize resources to make it easy for students to get help…