This research brief describes key takeaways for researchers from a rigorous evaluation of Single Stop, a college basic needs intervention. The study team faced challenges with student take-up of Single Stop services such as application support, tax services, and case management in a randomized control trial of Single Stop that was conducted across…

This brief provides guidance to researchers on opportunities to strengthen implementation and student take-up in rigorous studies of college student support interventions. Researchers describe four lessons learned from "Connecting Students to Basic Needs Support: An Evaluation of Single Stop Across Ten Colleges," a RAND study of a…

Mandatory reporting is the first step in a troubling and common cascade: Poverty, reframed as "neglect," precipitates far too many reports, with roughly one-third of children enduring a CPS investigation. Investigated families are monitored and coerced to change their parenting (usually without support for alleviating their poverty),…

This research brief summarizes findings from a qualitative study examining the core features of basic needs support. The goal of the brief is to provide clear guidance to community college leadership and staff on six promising features that colleges should build into their basic needs support approaches. These include: (1) comprehensive basic…

Many community college students are constrained by limited financial resources and are unable to meet basic food, housing, and transportation needs. As of 2020, approximately 23 percent of college students faced food insecurity, and 8 percent were homeless. To support student well-being and increase the likelihood that students succeed, community…

Most social work students receive only limited instruction about disabilities in their general coursework despite a growing need for trained social workers in this area. In this paper, we argue that coursework dedicated to the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) needs to be implemented as an essential component of a…