Document Tag: housing insecurity

Front Porch? What About No Porch? Exploring Housing Insecurity Among NCAA College Athletes During the COVID-19 Pandemic (2023)

This study explored housing insecurity among NCAA college athletes during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, 1,130 college athletes completed the #RealCollege Survey, a national survey examining housing and food insecurity among college students. Housing insecurity is a growing issue among general college students and the findings suggest it is also a potential issue for college athletes, particularly males, college athletes of color, and first-generation college students. Descriptive statistics examined how housing insecurity and housing insecure symptoms appeared among NCAA college athletes, Chi-squares test of independence explored the relationship between student characteristics (e.g., race, sex) and housing insecurity. Additionally, binary logistic regression models understand how COVID-19 impacted those relationships. These exploratory findings encourage more research on college athlete experiences with housing insecurity to understand better the impact housing insecurity has on college athletes.

Food Insecurity and Homelessness in American Higher Education: An Overview of New Nationally Representative Estimates (2023)

UPDATE: New version amended with additional table (July 30, 2023)

This memo offers new nationally representative estimates of food insecurity and homelessness affecting the nation’s college students, obtained from the just-released National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2020 (NPSAS), and compares them to estimates from my prior research studies conducted at The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice.

The results confirm that a sizable number of the nation’s college students—including graduate students—are food insecure and some are homeless. As long suspected, the rate is higher for college students than for the broader public. Moreover, we can now see that basic needs insecurity is a problem at every type of college and university and cuts across student demographics and even traditional measures of income and financial need.

● 23% of undergraduates and 12% of graduate students experienced food insecurity.
● 8% of undergraduates and 5% of graduate students experienced homelessness.
● Basic needs insecurity affects 35% of Black/African American students, 30% of Native American students, and 25% of Hispanic students.
● For-profit colleges and universities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities have the highest rates of basic needs insecurity among their students.

The coalition of institutions willing to assess and address these problems had higher rates of the challenges— now that all institutions are included the averages are lower, yet still substantial. We owe a debt of gratitude to those brave institutions that led the way and convinced the federal government to count what matters most to students – the security of their basic needs.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Community College Student Housing Insecurity (2015)

PD&R Expert Convenings: Summary Report.

On September 16, 2015, HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) convened a panel of education and housing experts
to shed light on the topic of housing insecurity among community college students. The convening featured brief presentations by experts
in the field followed by participant discussion. The goals of the convening were to reach a common understanding of the scope and
nature of students’ challenges, identify effective strategies, and discuss the potential role of the federal government in addressing student
housing insecurity.

Does Rent-Free Community Housing Make a Difference in Higher Education Outcomes? (2022)

This study provides one of the first causal estimates of the impact of housing on academic outcomes. While college students are too often dismissed as a privileged and healthy part of the population, researchers increasingly observe housing insecurity among college students. This problem worsened during the pandemic, underscoring the link between housing, employment, mental health, and wellness. Even in states like Florida where tuition costs are stable, basic needs expenditures and the stress associated with basic needs insecurity can negatively impact college students’ success academically as well as their well-being during and after college. Housing is of particular importance as a critical basic need for today’s undergraduate students. The study takes place before and during the ongoing pandemic, thus providing a unique opportunity to understand the short-term impacts of housing on belongingness, mental health, and academic outcomes for the five cohorts studied (Fall 2018 through Spring 2021 housing scholarship applicants). Additionally, we can examine longer-term impacts of housing net the impact of the pandemic on a variety of student outcomes resulting from a mixed-methods design. Because it is difficult and often impossible to fully measure the many pre-college and college-year factors which may contribute to student outcomes, Randomized Control Trial(RCT) is a preferred “gold standard” for evaluation studies, notably for college completion. Triangulated data include admissions application information, a base-year survey at the time of application (response rate: 81%), and a follow-up survey and stratified random sample of interview respondents. We conduct this analysis with these questions in mind: 1)Does this scholarship influence student well-being as measured by belongingness, mental health, and/or financial wellness? 2)Does the provision of a housing scholarship have an impact on student retention or completion? The evaluation aims to assess the “education for life” housing intervention model: rent-free housing and community living for students who receive the scholarship, carefully isolating the effect of housing in comparison to eligible applicants who do not move into this scholarship housing community. Baseline data indicate this population experienced challenges with mental health and financial wellness (including basic needs insecurity) at the time of application.

Findings from the study suggest that these rent-free community housing supports provide greater financial well-being, mental health, and postsecondary educational impacts. More specifically: •Reduced need for paid employment, •Reduced perceived stress, and •Enhanced retention and graduation in terms following assignment. Overall, the housing program appears to serve a population that is academically strong at the start but with considerable financial and health needs. Considerations for implementation and scale are discussed for community programs. Further investigation may allow greater insights into the longer-term impacts of the scholarship program, as most students were still enrolled and on target but had not yet finished college. Our mixed-methods data suggest potentially distinct impacts for STEM students as well as for students whose housing was interrupted during the pandemic.

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.