Student Basic Needs Research Group
Insufficient food and a lack of stable housing remain major challenges for many college students in the U.S. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased rates of both food and housing insecurity among college students. The 2021 #RealCollege study found that nearly 3 in 5 college students faced some form of basic needs insecurity in 2020. This project is a part of our research effort titled Understanding and Addressing the Effects of Food and Housing Insecurity on HBCU Students. The inability to meet basic material needs may sabotage a student’s well-being and potential for success. Our project teams’ original aim was to establish a baseline for food and housing insecurity among HBCU students utilizing a mixed-methods approach and to investigate the implementation and impact of a centralized, interactive resource and referral website as an effective intervention to address food and housing insecurity in this population.
Our Impact
Food and housing insecurity among college students is both an emerging concern and an established issue of public health. Further research is needed on its prevalence, impact, and the ways to best address it. In particular, there has been little research on the unique food and housing insecurity challenges of students enrolled at Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), which have served the most in-need students.
