While rising tuition and fees and even state disinvestment in higher education take up much of the national conversation around college affordability, students have many expenses to manage beyond tuition as they pursue a postsecondary credential. On top of covering the cost of tuition, fees, and course materials, students must still find a way to pay for food, housing, healthcare, and other expenses. Even after receiving financial aid, these costs can be too much for many students in our nation’s community colleges. The Wisconsin HOPE Lab set out to understand when and how often community college students do without food or secure housing. In 2015, the HOPE Lab partnered with ACCT, Single Stop, and the Healthy Minds Survey to survey approximately 4,000 students at ten community colleges about their access to food and housing and report on the challenges students are facing in terms of meeting basic needs while in college. The resulting report, Hungry to Learn, was authored by Katharine Broton, Daniel Eisenberg, and Sara Goldrick-Rab and released in December 2015.

Survey results indicated that broad swaths of community college students experience food and housing insecurity. As many as 20 percent of students experienced hunger in the 30 days before completing the survey. Fully 39 percent of respondents said that the food they purchased did not last as long as they needed and did not have the resources to buy more. Furthermore, 28 percent reported skipping meals or cutting the size of meals because they did not have enough money to get more food. Thirteen percent of students surveyed were homeless, with another 22 percent experiencing difficulty paying rent and 18 percent unable to cover their full rent payment. Five percent of respondents reported being kicked out of their homes, and three percent reported having stayed in an abandoned building for shelter at least once in the last year.

Food and housing insecurity often occur alongside other challenges. The survey results showed a strong correlation between housing insecurity and food insecurity. Approximately three fourths of students experiencing housing insecurity were also food insecure, and about the same share of students with low or very low levels of food security were facing some form of housing insecurity. The survey also examined the prevalence of mental health concerns among students and indicated that students without secure housing or food were much more likely to report symptoms consistent with anxiety or depression than peers with high food security.

These sobering findings call for action on the part of institutional leaders and policymakers. The authors’ recommendations for community colleges include equipping faculty and staff with information about available resources and benefits to connect students with needed support. Institutions may also consider developing a college food pantry or providing emergency grants to students in situations that urgently require resources. In short, offering a wide range of support to students and disseminating knowledge about on-campus and off-campus resources can make all the difference to a student whose pursuit of higher education depends on it. The authors also advocate for federal and state policies that recognize the needs of today’s students and support them as they pursue their higher education goals.

Following the completion of the Hungry to Learn, the HOPE Lab embarked on another survey project on food and housing insecurity at community colleges, partnering with ACCT to recruit approximately 75 institutions to participate. A report analyzing these survey data will be released in 2017.