Our student's basic needs are the foundation for success.

As Higher Ed begins the first Fall semester in possibly the middle of a pandemic, let’s try to be compassionate with our students. There is significant anxiety with many students struggling at a very basic level. In 2018 the CSU published the Study of Student Basic Needs, 41% of the students in the survey reported some form of food insecurity and 10% had reported homelessness in the past year. These numbers were shocking to many people when I presented them at a Higher Education mobile conference last year. This research helped secure resources for student assistance programs across the CSU and launch awareness across the country. I write this now because the world has changed, and we must understand the spectrum of issues our students are dealing with. We must realize how these critical campus services like food pantries, affordable health services and campus Wi-Fi, that are so vital for low-income and first-generation students can feel more out of reach as college campuses are less accessible for the near term. As we rapidly select, procure and implement new virtual teaching & learning technologies, let’s not forget that students need their physiological, safety and access needs met before they can devote the required attention to a full-time collegiate course-load.