ERIC Number: ED676598
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jun-2
Pages: 54
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Connecting Students to Basic Needs Support: An Evaluation of Single Stop across Ten Colleges. Research Report. RR-A3771-1
Lindsay Daugherty1; Jenna W. Kramer1; Louis T. Mariano1; Clare Cady1; Heather Gomez-Bendaña1; Tiffany Berglund1; Samantha Ryan1; Michelle Bongard1; Joshua Eagan1; Christopher Joseph Doss1
Grantee Submission
Many U.S. college students are unable to meet their basic needs and struggle to secure regular food and housing. Colleges across the United States are increasingly providing support to students in the form of emergency aid, food pantries, and assistance with public benefits. Single Stop offers basic needs support via an online system and real-person support for students, aiming to help students with applications for public benefits, make referrals to community resources, and offer free tax support. The report documents findings from a randomized control trial of Single Stop in ten Colorado and North Carolina community colleges. Findings draw on Single Stop system data, administrative data, and a follow-up survey of students. Authors found that take-up of Single Stop's services was low and conclude that Single Stop did not deliver a meaningful intervention in the study institutions. Students logged into the online portal and completed the benefits screener but did not follow up to receive application support, tax services, or other case management as Single Stop users frequently do in other college settings. The authors conclude that because of low take-up of case management services, study outcome findings do not provide a good estimate of the impacts the Single Stop program as typically implemented. They explore the challenges contributing to low take-up, including how services were targeted to students, the design and delivery of the intervention, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Descriptors: College Students, Needs, Need Gratification, Nutrition, Housing, Program Implementation, Public Support, Community Resources, Health Services, Welfare Services, Intervention, Social Support Groups, Program Evaluation, Low Income Students, COVID-19, Pandemics, Caseworker Approach, Program Design, Student Personnel Services, Public Policy
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
Authoring Institution: RAND Education and Labor
Identifiers - Location: Colorado; North Carolina
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305A200101
Department of Education Funded: Yes
Author Affiliations: 1RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, USA

Peer reviewed
Direct link
