Document Author: Katharine M. Broton

Public Testimony on Hunger in Higher Education, Submitted to the National Commission on Hunger (2015)

For the past several years, we have conducted research on hunger affecting college studentsacross the nation, and we thank you for the opportunity to share what we have learned. Our goalis to provide useful information about food insecurity among undergraduates and offer potential policy solutions to help alleviate this problem.We urge the National Commission on Hunger to align hunger policies with educational policies, in order to ensure that individuals from low-income and economically vulnerable backgrounds have a fair shot at mastering college-level material and securing college credentials.In particular, we recommend the following actions.

Seeking STEM: The Causal Impact of Need-Based Grant Aid on Undergraduates’ Field of Study (2023)

ABSTRACT
Increasing the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees is a national priority and one way to promote the socioeconomic mobility of students from low-income families. Prior research examining why students do not complete STEM majors often points to students’ lack of academic preparation, preferences for non-STEM majors, or lack of information about the value of STEM. This paper uses a randomized experiment to investigate an alternative explanation, that some students lack the financial resources to succeed in demanding majors. In a control group of university students from low-income families, 18.6% of students had declared a STEM major by their third year of college. In a treatment group who were offered additional need-based grant aid upon entering college, 26.5% of students declared a STEM major. Among students who had graduated within six years after entering college, 12.2% of control group graduates had earned a STEM degree compared to 20.2% of treatment group students. Need-based grants thus appear to have the potential to increase the share of low-income students studying and earning degrees in STEM.

Addressing Housing Insecurity and Living Costs in Higher Education (2016)

This Guidebook, co-authored with the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, reviews and explains strategies that institutions of higher education may consider to support their students with housing insecurity and other living costs, as well as examples of these strategies’ implementation. In the introduction, the Guidebook contextualizes these strategies with reference to evidence on student living costs, most of which has been discussed in prior PD&R publications. With high rates of college enrollment despite stagnant or declining family incomes and increasing college costs, today many college students are struggling to make ends meets and succeed in school. Key strategies include, for example, engaging in extensive, approach outreach for students who may benefit from support; partnering with local agencies and organizations such as Continuums of Care; and connecting students with benefits. The Guidebook is sourced from interviews, suggestions from stakeholders including other federal agencies, and existing research.