North Central College receives $130,000 state grant to address student homelessness, basic needs insecurity
North Central College in Naperville has been awarded nearly $130,000 in state funds to help students experiencing homelessness or unable to provide for their basic needs, a problem the college says has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
North Central was one of 10 colleges and universities across the state to receive financial support from the Illinois Board of Higher Education, part of its End Student Housing Insecurity (ESHI) program.
A total of $1.7 million was earmarked for the schools, with individual awards ranging from $96,000 to $200,000. Chicago State University, University of St. Francis in Joliet and Eastern Illinois University in River Forest were among the institutions receiving grants.
North Central spokesman Jeremy Borling said the college was “grateful” to have been selected to receive the money.
“The funding will help support ongoing work at the college … to remove barriers that housing-insecure students often face when pursuing a college education,” Borling wrote in an email last week.
North Central, Borling emphasized, serves a diverse student population with diverse economic backgrounds. Though the average, baseline cost of attendance for a North Central student can range from $54,000 to $64,000 a year, depending whether or not a student lives on campus, 100% of the private college’s new students receive some form of financial aid, he said.
But in recent years, “the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting impact on the economy have exacerbated many of the challenges that students face, including mental and physical health issues that often serve as underlying factors to housing insecurity,” Borling said.
Housing insecurity, or instability, is a broad, variably defined term for hurdles that make access to reliable shelter difficult, including trouble paying rent, overcrowding, moving frequently or spending the bulk of household income on housing, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Basic needs insecurity is a lack of consistent access to necessities, not just food and housing but also health care, transportation, child care and safety.
Since the pandemic, North Central has seen a growing number of requests from its campus community asking for help with basic needs insecurities, housing or otherwise, Borling said.
Some of those appeals have come through North Central’s “Cardinal Operation Hope and Help” initiative, a program the college launched in 2018 to boost student success, both in and out of the classroom.
The initiative provides emergency support for food, transportation, clothing and other needs to students facing financial hardship. Post-pandemic years have seen an increase in Cardinal Operation Hope and Help requests, Borling said. More students have also been soliciting urgent health care services through the colleges’ Dyson Wellness Center, he said.
The situation is not unique to North Central.
“Students attending institutions throughout the state and across the country face similar challenges,” Borling said.
Basic needs insecurity is a problem felt at higher education institutions throughout the U.S., data shows.
A nationwide survey of more than 195,000 U.S. college students found that nearly three in five experienced basic needs insecurity in 2020. The survey, administered by the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice at Temple University in Phildelphia, obtained their information from students at 202 different institutions, 130 two-year colleges and 72 four-year.
Of the four-year students assessed, 43% experienced housing insecurity in 2020, the study found. Compared to results from the same survey conducted in 2019, student housing insecurity had jumped about 8% by fall 2020.
In Illinois, there’s been a push in recent years to address student support needs in higher education, including housing insecurity, coming out of the pandemic. The goal is part of a broader initiative launched by the state in 2021 to generally revamp but particularly close equity gaps in Illinois’ higher education system.
The IHBE’s End Student Housing Insecurity program is a step toward addressing those shortcomings.
“No student should have to worry about when they will have their next meal or if they will have a safe place to spend the night,” IBHE Executive Director Ginger Ostro said in a news release announcing 2023 EHSI grant recipients last month.
“The ESHI grants,” she said, “will allow institutions to continue to remove barriers for housing-insecure students so they can make the most of their undergraduate experience and focus on their goal of graduating.”
Grants were awarded through a competitive application process based on an school’s ability to present a comprehensive plan identifying services and supports needed to address root causes of homelessness and basic needs insecurity.
Now funded, North Central is finalizing its plan to maximize grant money, Borling said.
More on how the college plans to utilize and implement its EHSI funding will be announced in coming weeks.
