Community College Students’ Experiences with Homelessness and Housing Insecurity

Addressing Community College Completion Rates by Securing Students’ Basic Needs

“…Students who experience basic needs insecurity report higher rates of missing classes and study sessions, opting out of extracurricular activities, not buying required books, and dropping classes due to hunger and housing problems (Mercado, ). The time and effort involved in trying to stabilize one's housing or need for food while in college competes with the time and effort required to do well in school (Hallett & Freas, ). Scarcity has cognitive effects, compromising the ability to focus and make good decisions, and leading to great distress (Mullanaithan & Shafir, ).…”

The Case for a Single Point of Contact for College Students Experiencing Homelessness

“…We have previously written about how the students’ experiences with homelessness influenced their academic engagement (Hallett & Freas, ). Here we focus more on how the fragmented system of support within the community college created significant challenges.…”

“…Balancing access to food and shelter while regularly attending classes and completing assignments can be a challenge. Students often feel a need to pause their enrollment when a housing crisis occurs (Hallett & Freas, ).…”

Responses to Hunger on the Community College Campus

“…Homelessness often relates to hunger (Dubick et al., ). This can put increased pressure on students to prioritize food and housing needs in relation to their other needs, such as buying books and completing assignments (Hallett & Freas, ). The impact of housing insecurity on these students can also be far reaching (Hallett & Crutchfield, ) and is discussed in other chapters in this volume.…”