How to Help Financially Vulnerable Students Succeed

Title: The Road Less Fragile: First Steps for Helping Financially Vulnerable Students Succeed

Source: The Institute for College Access & Success

The Institute for College Access & Success have published a new report that discusses the challenges faced by financially vulnerable students.

Among the key facts highlighted in the report:

• Six in ten undergraduate students work while enrolled.
• In 2015, 30 percent of college students’ households experienced an unexpected, large drop in income.
• A typical White household has enough liquid asserts to cover 31 days of income if necessary, compared with five and 12 days available to Black and Latino households, respectively.
• Nearly one million community college students lack access to federal student loans.

The report also suggests strategies for responding to these challenges, some of which include:

• Provide low- to moderate-dollar emergency grants.
• Directly provide resources like childcare and food banks.
• Reduce barriers to federal safety net programs by reforming student-specific eligibility exclusions.
• Further align federal financial aid with existing public benefit programs.
• Make federal student loans available to more students.

To read the full report, please visit the Institute for College Access & Success website.

—Georgiana Mihut