ERIC Number: ED626843
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Oct
Pages: 27
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
When Care Isn't Enough: Scaling Emergency Aid during the Pandemic
Goldrick-Rab, Sara; Hacker, Nicole L.; Kienzl, Gregory; Price, Derek V.; Curtis, Drew
Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice
As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged communities, cities, and countries in 2020, colleges and universities faced a unique emergency. Millions of students were struggling to meet their basic needs, and institutional emergency aid funds were rapidly running out. For the first time in history, Congress responded by authorizing billions of dollars in emergency aid to try and quickly alleviate hardships. Legislators created a separate funding stream, distinct from standard financial aid programs that required extensive means-testing and other red tape. Their goal was to act decisively and to allow flexibility, responses consistent with the urgent demands of an emergency. Colleges and universities shared that desire, but their challenges were unprecedented, in both scope and scale. Effective emergency response requires agility, capacity, and speed. No institution had ever developed a plan for anything of the magnitude of the crisis confronting them. Addressing a few emergencies a week might have been possible with pre-pandemic approaches, but addressing hundreds a day was not. This report shows how colleges and universities met the challenge, drawing on a year of surveys and focus groups, fielded and conducted by The Hope Center and DVP-Praxis, that reflect the views of institutional leaders and students from coast to coast. The results offer valuable insights that should shape the future of emergency aid and student support. While the onset of the pandemic was unprecedented, its ongoing health concerns and the looming consequences of climate change ensure that knowing how to deliver emergency aid at scale will be essential to the well-being of future students. With these lessons in mind, everyone can be better prepared and ready to respond. [Additional funding for this report was provided by the Farrar and Alline Ford Brown Foundation.]
Descriptors: Higher Education, Student Needs, Student Financial Aid, Need Analysis (Student Financial Aid), Eligibility, Emergency Programs, Crisis Management, COVID-19, Pandemics, Federal Aid, Federal Legislation, Resource Allocation, Financial Aid Applicants, Needs Assessment, Communication (Thought Transfer), Best Practices, Administrator Attitudes, Student Attitudes, Disadvantaged, College Students, Student Costs, Student College Relationship
Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. Jones Hall, 1316 West Ontario Street, 6th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19140. e-mail: hopectr@temple.edu ; Web site: https://hopeforcollege.com/
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Imaginable Futures; Gates Philanthropy Partners; Lenfest Foundation
Authoring Institution: Temple University, Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice; DVP-PRAXIS LTD
Identifiers - Location: Hawaii; Louisiana; Colorado (Denver); Minnesota
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act 2020
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A