Taking five classes at once is a heavy load for any college student, but for 26-year-old Marcus Thornton, it sometimes feels like a crushing weight. That鈥檚 because the computer science major at Cleveland State University is also working full-time to pay for tuition and living expenses. Yet even though he works three nights per week at the Amazon fulfillment center in North Randall, sometimes it鈥檚 still not enough to make ends meet.
At times, Thornton has struggled to pay for rent, utilities and food. He lost his job at a fitness center during the COVID-19 pandemic, compounding his problems. Until recently, he was living at home with his family, but after they were evicted, he ended up homeless and sleeping on friends鈥� couches. Recently, he moved into an apartment in Shaker Heights with a friend.
In the past year, when he was hungry and didn鈥檛 have enough money to buy groceries, Thornton twice visited at CSU. He left with a bag of fresh produce, canned goods, grains like rice and oatmeal, bread and fruit juice. 鈥淭hey were friendly and had pretty good stuff,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a positive experience.鈥�
Thornton is not ashamed of seeking help. Although he鈥檚 endured many challenges, he鈥檚
determined to get through school. 鈥淎s a full-time, first-generation college student, I don鈥檛 have the support system that many students have, especially considering my age,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 really have help from my family. I use as many resources as I can, because I鈥檓 doing this on my own.鈥�
Holly Fish, coordinator of Lift Up Vikes! at CSU, said that the university has stepped up to provide emergency aid to students during the pandemic. Student need has definitely increased during this time, especially since many students work in hospitality, restaurants and other industries heavily impacted by COVID-19. 鈥淲e know [the food pantry] is going to be extra needed this year,鈥� she said. 鈥淎 lot of our students were laid off during COVID.鈥�
Nationally, around half of all community college students and as many as one-third of students at four-year colleges were affected by food and/or housing insecurity even before COVID-19, according to the , an action research lab housed at Temple University. In a recent of 135 institutions across 36 states, nine of 10 responded they were looking for extra resources to help students during the pandemic.
Now, as colleges reopen even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, they鈥檙e adjusting and expanding the ways they鈥檙e helping students. In addition to pivoting to contact-less pickup for basic necessities like food and toiletries, many are also providing emergency aid. Yet, even as institutions acknowledge that providing for basic needs is important for college success, they鈥檙e also struggling to help students who are being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a shift in trying to support the whole student,鈥� said Amanda Woodyard, director of community engaged learning at Kent State University (KSU). 鈥淚f the student doesn鈥檛 do well, then they won鈥檛 be able to finish college and complete their degree. If we don鈥檛 retain the student, what are we going to do? We need to serve the whole student to be successful.鈥�
Going virtual
Woodyard said that KSU鈥檚 program used to donate food off campus to help their neighbors but now the majority of the food goes to students, faculty and staff. The need was always there, she said, but now it鈥檚 being recognized. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a working-class institution,鈥� she said of KSU, with 29% of its students eligible for federal Pell grants that are targeted to low-income families. 鈥淭he communities they come from have a higher rate of food insecurity, and those issues don鈥檛 disappear when the student sets foot on campus.鈥�
Campus Kitchen has two pantry sites which regularly serve people on campus and neighbors. Woodyard said they鈥檝e been slammed since March, when they regularly began seeing 60-70 people per shift since March, compared to 15 per shift last year. KSU gave out 30,272 pounds of food from March to August, more than they did in the entirety of the last academic year.
鈥淲hen COVID-19 hit, we made the decision to stay open and meet student needs,鈥� said
Woodyard. 鈥淭he messages that we were receiving were people saying, 鈥楾his is my lifeline, this is my family鈥檚 lifeline during this time.鈥� You hear about people losing their jobs, but this was up-close.鈥�
With the aid of a $1 million grant from the Fowler Foundation, Lift Up Vikes! recently opened a food pantry and resource center in its student center, quadrupling its capacity. Although the pantry was closed during the spring shutdown, student aid has soared during the pandemic. From January to May, CSU saw a 500% increase in applications to the Fowler Emergency Fund, from 104 to 490, and gave out more than $83,000 in aid.
鈥淭here is definite growth in stress overall in students,鈥� said Katharine Bussert, clinical case
manager at CSU. 鈥淪tudents are having trouble managing the uncertainty that the pandemic has brought as well as the isolation. What we鈥檝e done to adapt is make ourselves available immediately.鈥�
To prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Lift Up Vikes! food pantry places limits on the number of people who can visit the facility at one time and allows students to register virtually. Students pick up bags of groceries instead of shopping for individual items.
Alison Doehring, director of the program at the University of Akron, said during
COVID-19 the school鈥檚 Campus Cupboard program pivoted to drive-up food distribution.
University of Akron has seen a 120% percent increase in applications to their Student
Emergency Financial Aid (SEFA) program since the start of the pandemic.
One of the keys to success, said Doehring, is reducing the stigma around student aid. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we don鈥檛 call it a pantry,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a stigma around food insecurity, and we recognize that. We try to use language that reduces barriers.鈥�
Ensuring student success
Although meeting basic student needs was not always front and center on college campuses, many of these institutions now see this as a critical aspect of retaining students and helping them complete their degrees. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an increasing recognition that addressing student needs is part of a persistence and completion strategy,鈥� said Carrie Welton, director of policy with the Hope Center. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen an increase in the cohort of institutions that are taking this on.鈥�
Nationally, college retention rates at many four-year public institutions are pretty low. Just 63% of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students attending public four-year institutions with open enrollment were retained from 2017-2018, according to the. Kent State retained 81.6% of its college freshmen in 2019 and graduated 65.6% of its 2014 cohort, according to its . University of Akron retained 71.9% of its 2017 freshman class and graduated 43.1% of its 2011 class according to the most recent data posted on its .
CSU currently has a freshman retention rate of 76.6%, the highest in its history, and its average is 72%. Tri-C has a 21% graduation rate, a transfer rate of 23% and a retention rate of 56% percent, according to spokesperson John Horton.
鈥淎ll these programs, that鈥檚 why they exist, because we want folks who are already invested to stay,鈥� said Doehring. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tipping point. When I meet with a student who is behind on rent and still trying to find a job after being laid off, if that student gets evicted, they鈥檒l go back home. These are first-generation low-income students. Will we ever get them back into higher education? What disservice are we doing by not working to keep them?鈥�
Yet to be successful, colleges and universities must go beyond meeting basic needs, said Welton. 鈥淥ur systems were failing students even before the pandemic,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important as we move towards solutions at the institutional, state and federal level, we look beyond immediate needs. We don鈥檛 want to just put a band-aid on a bullet wound.鈥�
The Hope Center advocates helping students access SNAP, Medicaid and other benefits. They also recommend that faculty include a basic needs statement on course syllabi, letting students know how they can access help if they need it. 鈥淲e support the idea of telling colleges to get student-ready rather than telling students to get college-ready,鈥� said Welton.
One of the challenges for schools is finding money to pay for meeting student needs, especially during COVID-19. Chavilah Witt, director of engagement and athletics at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), said, 鈥淲e used to do food drives, but we can鈥檛 do that during the COVID-19 pandemic, so now we have to get creative in how we get donations.鈥�
In addition to placing large bins of dry food, toiletries and other supplies by the college entrance during the shutdown, Tri-C has also helped students in other ways. From March to May, the college awarded emergency funds to 560 students 鈥� four times the total from all of 2019. More than $4 million in CARES Act dollars have also been distributed to more than 3,000 Tri-C students, with the average award being nearly $1,400, according to the school.
Systemic solutions
Julia Krevins, director of the at Tri-C, said that to reduce barriers, schools should place resources at the center of campus, market them widely, and do personal outreach to at-risk students. A recent student survey conducted by the institute found that 20% of Tri-C students are worried about going hungry, 20% are missing meals one time or more per month, 35% are worried about missing rent or mortgage payments, and 15% are worried about going homeless, she said. Unfortunately, too many schools do not recognize or proactively address the problem, said Welton.
鈥淚 wish more people recognized that this is a period of students鈥� lives when they really need support, so they don鈥檛 have to take classes from their cars or go to the library to use a computer,鈥� said Krevins, stressing that college is a key to economic mobility. 鈥淲orking through college just isn鈥檛 that realistic anymore.鈥�
鈥淪ociety tells us pulling yourself up on your own is the only way to be successful,鈥� added Bussert. 鈥淚 encourage students to notice when they are struggling and give themselves credit and compassion and not fall into comparison traps. It says nothing about your character in a negative way, if anything it demonstrates an individual's commitment to showing up for themselves.鈥�
Welton said that ultimately changes are needed at the federal and state level to support students. The Hope Center supports the , which was introduced in the US House of Representatives in July and would implement a pilot program to award grants to community colleges so that they could provide free meals to eligible students.
鈥淔ederal and state governments have been disinvesting in higher education for years, and the burdens of paying for it have been shifting to families,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is only going to become worse after the pandemic.鈥�
Want to help? and are all in need of monetary and food donations.
This story is sponsored by the, which is composed of 20-plus Northeast Ohio news outlets including WKSU. It first appeared in The Land. Lee Chilcote is editor and founder of . Asha Fairley is a junior at Cleveland State University and a fall intern with The Land.
