Democrats introduce legislation to help students meet basic needs

One day last academic year, Byanca Moore realized she needed help. The aspiring junior at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY, had to pay medical expenses and had nothing to eat. So she turned to the college’s Jesuit Fund, which provides students with up to $ 500 in emergency funds. Moore applied for assistance and got what she needed.

“They take care of students and they see what needs you need,” said Moore. “It was helpful.”

But the Jesuit Fund is just a quick fix, noted Moore. She and her classmates facing financial challenges are more likely to need a long-term solution.

That was realized by Representative Norma Torres, a Democrat from California, when she saw one of her sons make four sandwiches for a two-hour class at the community college he was attending.

“I look at him like you’re eating all of this?” Torres said to Inside Higher Ed. “And he said, ‘No, not for me, mom. There are so many children who are there all day but have no money to eat, so I make them for them. ‘”

According to the most recent survey by the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice, nearly three in five of the 195,000 students participating said they had experienced an insecurity of basic needs, which the Hope Center defines as the lack of an existing ecosystem, which ensures that student needs – such as access to adequate food, safe housing, health care, and affordable technology and transportation – are met. Thirty-nine percent of students in two-year colleges and 29 percent in four-year colleges experienced food insecurity, and a total of 48 percent of students experienced housing insecurity.

Colored students were more likely to experience basic needs insecurity than their white classmates. Among students in both two- and four-year colleges, 75 percent of Indigenous students, 70 percent of black students, and 64 percent of Hispanic or Latin American students experienced basic needs insecurity, compared with 54 percent of white students.

“Students cannot decide whether to cover their tuition fees or their tuition fees,” says Mamie Voight, interim president of the Institute for University Policy. “These tuition fees can be a real hurdle for students trying to succeed in college.”

After speaking with students and learning how many of them are struggling to meet their basic needs, Torres introduced the Basic Assistance for Students in College Act, or BASIC Act, in the House of Representatives in 2019, with then Senator Kamala Harris taking the lead in the Senate . An updated version of the bill was tabled by Torres in early June, with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, and Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, taking up the bill in the Senate. So far, the laws have lacked Republican support.

“The last thing a college student should worry about is where his next meal will be from,” said Torres. “You should be worried about studying, going to the next class, and doing homework.”

The BASIC Act would establish a $ 1 billion grant program to help colleges identify and meet the needs of their students, including food, shelter, transportation, childcare, and technology. It approves $ 40 million in two-year planning grants to help colleges and universities research and plan their students’ unmet basic needs, and provides $ 960 million in five-year institutional implementation grants to build infrastructure for the Develop basic needs.

Legislation prescribes several ways in which the funds must be used, for example by providing free or subsidized food, providing temporary housing, helping students apply for public funding programs, or working with community organizations. At least 25 percent of the planning and implementation grants would have to go to community colleges, and priority would be given to institutions that serve minorities and those that enroll 25 percent or more of their students as Pell scholars.

The bill would also facilitate data sharing between federal agencies – including ministries of education, agriculture, housing and urban development, and health and social affairs – to identify students who may be eligible for federal aid and help them access programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income and Federal Housing Assistance and Childcare Programs.

“That’s why the programs are there – to help people meet their basic needs,” said Voight. “And we should make sure that students actually have access to it. The data exchange would make this possible. “

The BASIC Act is supported by over a dozen organizations, including the American Association of Community Colleges, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, IHEP, and the Hope Center.

Over the past five years, the momentum has developed for a federal solution to the challenges faced by college students, said Carrie Welton, advocacy and policy director at the Hope Center. And it’s important that leaders within the federal government recognize and remove the barriers to basic needs that students face, Voight said.

“It’s becoming increasingly recognized as an important topic and makes a lot of sense when you think about the needs of our economy,” Welton said. “The vast majority of new jobs created require some sort of post-secondary degree.”

This issue is largely related to completion and national competitiveness, Voight said. If students cannot complete their post-secondary degree or degree because they cannot meet their basic needs, then the United States will not have an educated population to compete on a global stage.

“If we are to meet graduation goals, if we are to meet our competitive goals and ensure that students can reap the rewards of post-secondary education, we need to address these student incidental costs,” said Voight.

Any federal assistance that can help institutions build basic infrastructure is welcomed by Marcheta Evans, President of Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, NJ. Bloomfield College is a Hispanic institution and the only four-year predominantly black institution in New Jersey. The average family income for college students in New Jersey is just over $ 30,000.

“It was a big fight for them,” said Evans. “Before the pandemic, many of my students were faced with food and housing insecurity.”

During the pandemic, Bloomfield College decided not to close its campus entirely as many of the students had to stay in campus apartments. The college has been able to use funds from the CARES Act to meet student technology needs, and it has two donated pantries on campus. It was helpful to the students, but the college could use more and more resources doing more for them, Evans said.

“When your body isn’t fed, it’s hard to feed your mind,” said Evans. “Getting our students to make sure these basic needs are met – this has to be priority # 1.”

Padilla is pushing for the BASIC Act to be included in a revision of the Higher Education Act, but it is unclear whether this will be done during the 117th Congress. In the meantime, Padilla is working to have a $ 20 million pilot program for basic needs in the middle language for fiscal year 2022.

“As the poverty crisis among college and graduate students continues to worsen, the BASIC Act is a critical step in expanding access to higher education by ensuring that students do not go hungry or struggle to meet basic needs,” said Padilla in a statement to Inside Higher Ed.

And while students were able to get additional federal support through the University Emergency Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic, Moore stressed that ending the pandemic will not end the affordability challenges students face.

“It will still be a challenge for us in a few years,” said Moore. “There are a lot of black and brown students like me who need attention and help. If I need to get in touch, I’ll be in touch and I want there to be something we can turn to because it’s needed. “

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/democrats-introduce-legislation-to-help-students-meet-basic-needs/