Document Category: Research study (not in a journal)

Marginal Returns to Public Universities (2024)

This paper studies the causal impacts of public universities on the outcomes of their marginally admitted students. I use administrative admission records spanning all 35 public universities in Texas, which collectively enroll 10 percent of American public university students, to systematically identify and employ decentralized cutoffs in SAT/ACT scores that generate discontinuities in admission and enrollment. The typical marginally admitted student completes an additional year of education in the four-year sector, is 12 percentage points more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree, and eventually earns 5-10 percent more than their marginally rejected but otherwise identical counterpart. Marginally admitted students pay no additional tuition costs thanks to offsetting grant aid; cost-benefit calculations show internal rates of return of 19-23 percent for the marginal students themselves, 10-12 percent for society (which must pay for the additional education), and 3-4 percent for the government budget. Finally, I develop a method to disentangle separate effects for students on the extensive margin of the four-year sector versus those who would fall back to another four-year school if rejected. Substantially larger extensive margin effects drive the results.

Food Fuels Futures: Expanded SNAP Eligibility Reduces Hunger Among College Students (2024)

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services declared and continually
renewed the federal Public Health Emergency (PHE) declaration starting in March 2020. Congress and the Trump and Biden administrations authorized various adjustments in SNAP to address the massive economic and health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, during the PHE, Congress authorized two additional exemptions for college students, as well as other SNAP enhancements through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.5 SNAP eligibility was expanded to college students with low incomes who were eligible for work-study or had an expected family contribution (EFC) of $0 in the current academic year. These exemptions expired after the end of the PHE on July 1, 2023, meaning that students who met either of these criteria were no longer eligible for SNAP unless they satisfied another exemption or the work-to-eat rule. This report — informed by interviews with college students — sets forth reasons why these expansions were so vital to college students during the PHE and why decision-makers should build on these lessons and eliminate the “work-to-eat
rule” so that more college students can focus on learning rather than being distracted by hunger. Additionally, although the temporary expansions have ended, there is legislation, known as the Enhance Access to SNAP (EATS) Act, which would ensure all students with low incomes facing food insecurity could access SNAP.

Unveiling Disparities: Racial, ethnic, and gender gaps in student financial insecurity and proposed solutions (2024)

Jobs for the Future (JFF), in partnership with Trellis
Strategies, analyzed Trellis’s 2022 Student Financial
Wellness Survey of over 30,000 students from 89
schools in 23 states. Findings reveal significant
financial insecurity gaps, particularly for Black, Latine,
and women students, emphasizing the need for a
multifaceted approach, including basic needs hubs,
policy changes, and improved data collection.

Improving the education and wellbeing of student parents (2024)

Student parents, who make up approximately four million US undergraduates, are highly motivated to succeed in school but often face barriers to educational success due to logistical and financial constraints as well as mental health stressors. This randomized control trial examined the effectiveness of an education program centered in an adult workforce agency that was specifically designed to meet the needs of student parents and their families. Family-centered supportive services included coordinated parent-child schedules and childcare in addition to peer cohorts led by coaches, tuition-free courses, and additional financial assistance. Two hundred seventy-seven parents responded to online survey questions about their education and career, well-being, and parenting at baseline and approximately 1 year later (treatment n = 191, control n = 86). The racially and ethnically diverse pool of parents consisted mostly of low-income mothers aged 29 years on average who had a high school diploma or completed a General Educational Development (GED) program. After 1 year, parents in the education program were more likely to obtain at least a certificate or associate degree compared to control parents. These findings suggest that a family-focused approach is key to improving the educational success of student parents.

ECMC Foundation Basic Needs Initiative Evaluation Report 1: Sustaining Basic Needs Services at Postsecondary Institutions (2023)

In the past few decades, the cost of college has risen significantly, while federal, state, and institutional financial aid and family income have remained stagnant or declined (Goldrick-Rab, 2018). As a result, many college students struggle to afford the full cost of college attendance, which includes tuition and fees, expenses to cover food, housing, transportation, child care for student parents, school supplies and access to the internet, and other living expenses (Duke-Benfield & Sponsler, 2019). College students may experience basic needs insecurity, including the lack of access to healthy food, stable housing, reliable transportation, affordable child care, physical and mental health care services, the internet and technology, and other necessities they need to survive and thrive in a postsecondary academic setting. Meeting college students’ basic needs is essential to their well-being and ability to learn and succeed in college (Daugherty et al., 2016; Goldrick-Rab, 2021; Hallet & Freas, 2018; Haskett et al., 2020; Maroto et al., 2015; Phillips et al., 2018; Silva et al., 2017; Trawver et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2018). To support students’ postsecondary success, ECMC Foundation launched the Basic Needs Initiative, funding seven organizations (hereafter “BNI grantees,” see sidebar) to further the development and sustainability of basic needs services at postsecondary institutions through direct service, technical assistance, and research.

In The Shadows Of Higher Education: Housing Insecurities Among College Students (2023)

While higher education is seen as an opportunity for social mobility for many, students who face housing and basic needs insecurities remain an issue that colleges and universities need to understand further. Students who experience food and housing insecurities struggle to persist in their academic pursuits and lack mental and physical health assistance. Limited research on housing-insecure students mainly focuses on the experiences of community college students. More research is needed to understand how housing-insecure students experience higher education at four-year universities. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with undergraduate and graduate housing-insecure students. The research questions guiding this study ask how students experience college at CSUF and, specifically, what navigational strategies these students employ as they go through higher
education. This study situates the experiences of housing-insecure students through a social reproduction lens that can better understand the relationship between schooling structures and students from low-income backgrounds. Social capital is also utilized to understand how housing-insecure students draw on their networks to navigate school despite various obstacles. Despite the lack of awareness, inadequate resources, and institutional neglect, the students in this study develop a strong sense of resilience and resistance and develop strong social networks— primarily outside of the university—to persist in their schooling endeavors. This thesis concludes by offering recommendations for universities to improve outreach and resource efforts drawing from the findings of this study.

Understanding higher education students’ sense of belonging: a qualitative meta-ethnographic analysis (2023)

The current literature on ‘sense of belonging’ spans a number of disciplines, with no apparent consensus on definition between these, complicated by the fact that sense of belonging is temporal and context-sensitive (such as during COVID-19). In particular, a closer look at how students define sense of belonging is needed from an up-to-date perspective to help them feel more connected to the faculty/campus and improve their wellbeing and mental health in the ‘new normal’ and ‘next normal’ post-pandemic eras. Therefore, this study explores higher education students’ sense of belonging, a concept that has not been adequately conceptualised, from their perspectives. As these perspectives are subjective, an interpretive approach is required to generate rich meanings. This study has adopted a meta-ethnographic approach to synthesise qualitative studies, which allows for comparison and synthesis of studies into a new interpretation through translations. Interpretive qualitative synthesis resulted in one higher-order concept, four main concepts, and nineteen sub-concepts that conceptualise higher education students’ understanding of sense of belonging to their universities.

Basic Needs Insecurity in Texas Community Colleges: Landscape Analysis (2023)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas community colleges increasingly focused on addressing students’ basic needs insecurities (BNI), such as food and housing insecurity, so that students could continue to make progress towards their academic goals. As colleges continue to recover from the pandemic lockdowns and prepare for the winding down of historic levels of government support, faculty, staff, and administrative leaders are poised to consider how best to refine, scale, and sustain their BNI service offerings to most effectively support student success.
Over the past decade, the research on BNI has grown dramatically, documenting the widespread prevalence of BNI among the student population, the negative effects of BNI on student outcomes, and promising solutions colleges have implemented to best support students. This report documents findings across several critical issue areas relevant for community college leaders to consider as they make plans for enhancing BNI service offerings.

College focused rapid rehousing: Deploying an existing community model to address homelessness on campus (2024)

Research indicates that financial and housing insecurity challenges are widespread on most college campuses throughout the U.S. However, there is wide variability in how campuses address these challenges. This study reports on a three-year implementation of the College-Focused Rapid Rehousing pilot; an initiative in California by which universities commissioned community providers to assist students in need via a modified Rapid Rehousing (RRH) intervention. RRH is a widely implemented intervention that combines move-in assistance, short-term rental subsidies, and ongoing case management, to help individuals quickly transition into stable housing. The mixed-methods evaluation included analyses of online surveys (n = 141), administrative records (n = 368), and focus groups conducted with staff across eight campuses (n = 35). Survey findings indicate that CFRR programs assisted a diverse group of students with similar histories of housing insecurity. Quantitative analyses also show that most participants experienced the intervention as designed, though with some inconsistencies in how quickly some were assisted. Qualitative findings highlight contextual factors that affected the consistency of the intervention, including tight rental markets and philosophical disagreements among administrators about the
intervention’s scope. Despite study limitations, findings provide insights into the applicability of the RRH model on campus settings and directions for future research.

Food Insecurity in College Students: The Role of Environment, Social Networks, and Perceived Food-Related Time, Stress, and Skill (2024)

Using a mixed-methods approach, the purpose of this study was to identify contributing factors and their relationship to food insecurity at a midsize, private university. During semistructured interviews (N = 23), students discussed social and environmental factors related to food insecurity, as well as the individual factors of food-related time, stress, and skill. A short questionnaire measuring the individual factors was developed and implemented with the US Department of Agriculture food security survey (N = 270). Between the food secure and insecure groups, there were significant differences in relation to food-related time, stress, and skill (P < .01). Identifying specific factors can inform campus-specific interventions to address food insecurity.