Objective: The purpose of this paper was to examine variables associated with food insecurity among community college caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used data from a multi-institutional survey of 15,051 caregivers enrolled at 130 community colleges in 42 states in fall 2020. We used a logistic regression to examine whether…

The authors sought to identify the prevalence of food insecurity in a community college district during the COVID-19 pandemic. The team also investigated the association food insecurity had with academic performance. A sample of 238 individuals completed the survey, including a demographic questionnaire and the Adult Food Security Survey Module, a…

Community college students may become more vulnerable to food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may eventually impact their health, shape their interpretations of food insecurity and injustice within their lives, and cause them to reevaluate the support that they need from their community college. This study analyzes the food security…

This study represents North Carolina community college student experience with food insecurity. Two-year students have a wide variety of challenges as they make their way to finishing a credential. One such challenge, hunger, has always been a component; awareness and discourse have not. The purpose of the research is to understand the narratives…

In spring 2023, The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (The RP Group) partnered with the CEO Affordability, Food & Housing Access Taskforce of the Community College League of California (CCLC) to assist in survey data collection efforts and provide updated data trends regarding California Community College (CCC)…

Food insecurity, housing insecurity, and homelessness are pervasive issues within the United States. Research conducted to understand the extent to which college students specifically experience food and housing insecurity indicates a relationship between unmet basic needs and negative educational outcomes. Both higher education institutions and…

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the federal government responded by expanding the country's safety-net programs, including through stimulus payments. There were also significant federal policy changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest food assistance program in the United States. Benefit amounts were increased,…

Throughout higher education, there is increasing concern about students who experience food insecurity, housing insecurity, and difficulty meeting other critical needs. The pandemic exacerbated these challenges and led to lower enrollment across all higher education sectors. Community colleges experienced a steepest decline between 2019 and 2021.…

The existing body of research presents two contrasting views of community colleges, one portraying them as a "second chance" for individuals, offering an accessible route to higher socioeconomic status. The second views community colleges as a deceptive cover designed to divert marginalized people away from prestigious colleges and to…

Food insecurity is a growing problem that is negatively affecting millions of households due to the limited or uncertain availability or access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods. Scholars have found that college students are hungry while learning or too hungry to learn. As a potential threat to student success on college campuses in the…

Over the recent past, interdisciplinarity has been theorized as a tool that can help teachers and researchers create new epistemological spaces in higher education. Given the emphases on vocation-oriented programs and STEM-skilled workforce education, two-year colleges have the potential to explore the development of an interdisciplinary…

Basic Need Insecurities often impact the ability of community college students to persist and complete their goals. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated BNI for students' forcing administrators to respond to and address BNI. This study will highlight administrators' responses toward BNI and focus on the changes and/or services administrators…

Every year a subset of postsecondary students goes hungry and lacks stable shelter. Recent research has helped raise national awareness of basic needs insecurity on college campuses across the US. States and institutions of higher education have, until recently, been approaching the problem of student food insecurity in separate, sometimes…

As the demand for qualified science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and business college-degreed workers increases, underrepresented minorities, females, first-generation college students, and students who are economically disadvantaged remain as four high-risk STEM populations. A majority of undergraduate STEM and business…

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to identify if and how a community college provided services to meet the needs of undocumented students seeking STEM degrees during the pandemic. The study is grounded in the framework of Institutional Undocu-Competence (IU-C) and draws from interviews with 16 students at an urban community…