Emergency Aid Federal Data Highlights and Implications for Student Affairs

Unexpected and emergency expenses remain a persistent barrier to on-time college completion and student success. A staggering number of students, particularly those enrolled in public 2-year and most Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), report they would be unable to come up with $500 within a month. As the demographic of college students becomes increasingly diverse – encompassing a wider range of financial backgrounds and life circumstances – higher education institutions must proactively intervene to ensure students have access to basic needs and emergency funds.

NASPA has a deep commitment to addressing basic needs of college students, and we recognize the importance of addressing financial gaps in supporting the persistence and well-being of students facing unexpected financial crises. Of respondents to NASPA’s email quick-poll who are affiliated with an institution (n=443), two out of three said their student affairs division manages their institution’s emergency aid program. Providing access to emergency aid grants is a mechanism institutions can leverage when unexpected expenses arise. An examination of existing scholarship and insights from NASPA’s prior research – including a 2016 landscape analysis and a more recent survey of student and institutional experiences with COVID-19 relief funds – highlight that institutions face diverse challenges when addressing basic needs insecurity, particularly across different institutional types.

A snapshot of recent federal data brings attention to their importance and the need to meaningfully incorporate emergency aid efforts into holistic student success strategies. This brief reviews recent federal data related to the delivery of emergency aid across institutions of higher education – illustrating the continued need and impact of such efforts for today’s students – and suggests priorities for advancing and elevating related research scholarship for the field.