When most people think about college students, they picture vibrant campuses, dorm rooms, and academic ambition. Beneath this idealized image, many college students are quietly struggling with basic needs insecurity. By definition, basic needs insecurity is the lack of consistent access to basic needs, including food, housing, healthcare, transportation, resources, technology, and childcare.
According to the 2023/24 Student Basic Needs Survey Report by The Hope Center, nearly 64 percent of students at two-year colleges and 49 percent of students at four-year colleges reported experiencing basic needs insecurity in the last year. The Hope Center also reported that 38 percent of students nationwide experienced food insecurity, 47 percent experienced housing insecurity, and 13 percent faced homelessness.
These numbers reflect real college students who have goals and aspirations to go higher in their education and career, but are hindered by their unmet basic needs.
The Imaginary College Fund
In a perfect world, parents cover their child’s college expenses by using the accumulated wealth in their college fund. In contrast to reality, most parents do not have five figures reserved for their prospective college student.
According to “The 2025 Investment Company Fact Book” by the Investment Company Institute, the US median household income of those who invest is $115,000, and 54 percent of those who invest are college graduates. Similarly, on a state level, the 2024 US Census Bureau for the State of Georgia Profile reports that 60 percent of Georgia households earn less than $100,000, and about 55 percent of Georgians are not college graduates.
Based on these statistics, most Georgians do not fit the profile of parents who can invest in a college fund, resulting in their children being vulnerable to financial strain and basic needs insecurity.
Cost-of-Attendance is Underestimated
As a result of having low-income parents, the student will need financial assistance to cover his or her tuition, fees, books, and basic needs for the academic year. The estimation of these college expenses is considered the “Standard Cost-of-Attendance (COA)”, and the parents’ financial ability to pay for the COA is considered the “Expected Family Contribution (EFC)/Student Aid Index (SAI).” By subtracting EFC/SAI from the COA, the student’s financial need is determined and should be met with grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study programs funded by Federal Student Aid, Georgia Student Finance Commission, and other funding sources.
This formula accurately calculates the student’s financial need only if the EFC/SAI and COA estimates are correct. The EFC/SAI accuracy is the parents’ responsibility; the COA accuracy is the financial aid office’s responsibility. Let’s look at how Georgia Tech estimated their 2025-26 COA for ‘Current & Transfer Students Living Off-Campus’:
- Tuition: $10,512
- Fees: $1,496
- Resources: $800
- Food: $6,132
- Housing: $11,744
- Personal & Miscellaneous Expenses: $2,800
- Transportation: $550
The total for the year, or two semesters, is $34,034.
According to the 2025 Living Wage Calculation for Georgia provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Living Wage Institute, the COA for one adult with no children would be calculated much differently, as shown below:
- Tuition: $10,512
- Fees: $1,496
- Resources: $800
- Food: $4,335
- Housing: $15,580
- Personal & Miscellaneous Expenses: $11,273 (includes medical, civic, internet & mobile, and other)
- Transportation: $10,300
The total for the year, or two semesters, is $54,296
The delta between Georgia Tech’s COA and Georgia’s typical expenses is $20,262. Unless a student receives a surplus of student aid and a refund check for $20k, the student will only have enough money to attend college, but not enough money for food, housing, personal expenses, and transportation — resulting in basic needs insecurity.
The Band Aids Stop the Bleeding
The current solutions for a Georgia college student battling basic needs insecurity are reactive, short-term solutions that can only help so much.
The first solution is working. For a student to earn the $20k COA delta in one year, the student would need to earn a monthly net income of $1,700. Earning this much money at the federal minimum wage rate of $7.50 would be virtually impossible, but with a higher hourly rate of about $15 to $20 per hour, a student could do this by working full-time at 40 hours each week.
Assuming a student can secure a job at this pay rate, the student would still need time to attend class, study, and be engaged on their campus and in their community. Most full-time students who are also full-time employees overcome basic needs insecurity at the expense of academic failure, anxiety, and stress.
The second solution is welfare. Government programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Child Care & Development Fund (CCDF), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), help college students secure food, childcare, and emergency financial assistance, respectively. Restrictions and eligibility requirements do apply, and most students are unaware of these welfare services.
The third solution is student programs. Kennesaw State University offers the “Campus Awareness, Resource & Empowerment (CARE) Services” program, Georgia State University offers the “Panther’s Pantry” program, and Georgia Tech offers the “STAR (Students’ Temporary Assistance and Resources)” program, just to name a few. These programs typically provide a
combination of food pantries, temporary housing, interview attire, and emergency financial assistance, either as a grant or a loan.
The fourth solution is college foundations. Every public college has an individual college foundation. Additionally, we have the University System of Georgia Foundation and the Technical College System of Georgia Foundation. Recently, the USG Foundation announced the DREAMS Scholarship Program to offer need-based aid to Georgia college students. However, based on the eligibility criteria, students who need help overcoming basic needs insecurity due to the underestimated cost of attendance would not be eligible for it.
The last solution is community organizations. Some examples include churches, non-profits, and public grant-making foundations like The Higher Foundation. If a student can first find them to request support, the student still has to be lucky enough to receive support, contingent on the community organization having available funding and resources.
None of our current solutions addresses the systemic issue of basic needs insecurity at its core. We need to consider a more holistic approach that offers basic needs assistance to every Georgia college student who demonstrates the need.
A Holistic Approach Worth Our Consideration
Berea College is a private college in Kentucky that was founded to make higher education accessible to those who otherwise could not afford it. Since 1855, no Berea student has paid tuition — true to the college’s slogan, “Berea took tuition off the table so that students could take a seat at it.”
In addition to being a no-tuition college, Berea integrates basic needs assistance into its student experience from day one, including:
- Unlimited meal swipes to eliminate food insecurity
- Free housing to eliminate housing instability
- Emergency grants to eliminate financial strain
- Free healthcare, dental care, and mental health counseling to eliminate healthcare inaccessibility
- Laptops, textbook grants, and a free essential-item store to eliminate resource scarcity
- Two fully funded internships, 75 percent covered study abroad opportunities, and professional development grants to eliminate career barriers.
Berea College has a total student population of about 1,500 students, and it only admits students who are Pell-Grant eligible, with a less than 30 percent acceptance rate. In the 2026 edition of Best Colleges, the US News & World Report ranked them as #1 in Best Value Schools, proving that their holistic approach is a working solution for low-income students.
Let’s Take Georgia Higher
To truly take Georgia higher, we need our colleges and universities to commit to systemic change that targets the root of basic needs insecurity. By following the lead of models like Berea College and centering basic needs assistance in the student experience, Georgia can create a higher education system where basic needs insecurity is not a barrier to academic success.
Remodeling Georgia’s higher education infrastructure will be a heavy undertaking, but we believe in Georgia’s ability to make it happen. Until we remodel our colleges and universities to holistically support our most vulnerable students, we should ensure each Pell Grant recipient is informed of and connected to every national, state, institutional, and local resource available.
As the current generation, it’s our responsibility to pave the way for the next generation of college-educated professionals. We must come together and make college more accessible for low-income students. After all, Georgia’s future economy depends on it.
