Addressing Food Insecurity on Campus: Connecting Students with Basic Needs Supports to Improve Academic Outcomes (2023)

This report highlights the efforts of four Arkansas community colleges to address students’ basic needs by transforming their campus food pantries from supplemental food distribution centers to basic needs hubs connecting students to a broad array of additional, more sustained basic needs supports. Drawing on college administrative data, this study assesses the benefits of this basic needs hub model on students’ academic success. Results from regression analyses point to notable academic benefits. Specifically: • Students accessing the basic needs hub are 6 to 8 percentage points more likely than students not accessing the hub to be enrolled one semester and one year later, and to earn a credential. • Low-income students, adult students, and students of color are more likely to access basic needs hubs, driven by colleges’ targeted outreach efforts to key student groups. • The notable academic benefits of the basic needs hub are present for Pell recipients, for adults, and for students of color – with especially high proportional increases in credential attainment for students of color who access the hubs.