Document Author: Sara Goldrick-Rab

Hungry to Win: A First Look at Food and Housing Insecurity Among Student-Athletes (2019)

Student-athletes compete in school and on the field. They are often full-time students and fulltime athletes, making it challenging to manage their time, health, and finances. Some receive financial assistance for their participation. Full scholarships are uncommon and generally awarded at Division I schools. Most student-athletes, however, receive only partial scholarships or none at all. Yet nearly all face additional rules, restrictions, and requirements based on their funding, their coaches, and the collegiate athletics association. For example, student-athletes are frequently prohibited from working while their sports are in-season. They are also unable to accept “extra benefits” from anyone to help with living costs. Former Baylor running back Silas Nacita was homeless but lost NCAA eligibility after accepting unapproved housing, while former UCLA linebacker Donnie Edwards was forced to pay restitution for accepting groceries left for him when he was food insecure.1 This is the first report to expand on media coverage documenting incidents of food and housing insecurity, even homelessness, among student-athletes. Given the limited sample size, it can be assumed that the prevalence—and the consequences—of these incidents are much more pervasive.

Completion Grants: A Multi-Method Examination of Institutional Practice (2021)

Public universities are intent on increasing degree completion for many reasons. A stronger policy focus on completion and interest in removing students’ financial hurdles has led to a rapid proliferation of completion grant programs. This paper reports on a mixed method implementation study of completion grant programs at seven broad- and open-access universities. Drawing on case studies of completion grant programs and student surveys, we examine the work of the administrators and professionals who create and implement these programs. As it can diminish program efficacy and increase inequality, we pay particular attention to administrative burden for staff and students. We consider how the implementation of completion grant programs vary and how these variations are associated with administrative burden. We also analyze the drivers of variation in that administrative burden, and describe model elements for administering completion grants that aim to minimize administrative burden and maximize efficacy.

What Happens to Students Placed Into Developmental Education? A Meta-Analysis of Regression Discontinuity Studies (2017)

This article reports a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that use regression discontinuity to examine the effects of placement into developmental education. Results suggest that placement into developmental education is associated with effects that are negative, statistically significant, and substantively large for three outcomes: (a) the probability of passing the college-level course in which remediation was needed, (b) college credits earned, and (c) attainment. Several sensitivity analyses suggest these results are not a function of particular stylized studies or the choices made in assembling the meta-analytic database. Two exploratory moderator analyses suggest that the negative effects of placement into developmental education are stronger for university students than for community college students and worse for students placed in reading or writing than in math. This work can inform debate and research on postsecondary policies and on alternative mechanisms for ensuring that college students have the skills needed to meet their goals.

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.

U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – Testimony (2013)

Testimony of Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin Educational Policy Studies & Sociology Senior Scholar, Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Education Director, Wisconsin Scholars Longitudinal Study Prepared for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions United States Senate Hearing on “The Challenge of College Affordability: The Student Lens” April 16, 2013

Request to Add Measurement of Food Insecurity to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (2015)

The Wisconsin HOPE Lab and the American Council on Education Center for Policy Research and Strategy strongly urge the Technical Review Panel of NCES’s NPSAS study to add measurement of food insecurity to the next administration of this key national survey. This will provide policymakers with information required to assess the efficacy of Federal Student Aid in alleviating material hardships and consider the need for new programs to alleviate hunger among undergraduates, assist practitioners in examining how affordable college really is for their students, and enable researchers to produce a more accurate picture of the economic challenges inhibiting college completion.

Below, we describe the rationale for this request and proposed survey questions, drawn from standardized models of assessment that will enable comparisons with national statistics on food insecurity in the broader population.