2.3 True Costs & Basic Needs

The idea the legislature has of a community college student is focused on traditional students who have just graduated from high school and are living with their parents. But our community college students are burdened with massive non-tuition costs like transportation, housing, and textbooks. Community colleges educate 65% of California’s college students but only receive 7% of Cal Grant dollars. Our students need more resources to be successful.

-Eman Dalili, Student Member, CCC Board of Governors (Vision for Success)

The "True Cost" of College

In their Feb. 2018 report Links to an external site., the Institute for College Access & Success concluded that "affordability challenges contribute to inequities in college enrollment, completion, and student debt burdens, with low-income and minority students less likely to enroll or complete college, and more likely to have borrowed for college."

Efforts to shine a light on the "true cost" of college Links to an external site. for CCC students have noted that:

  • While CCC tuition is low, it is "still difficult for most lower-income students to achieve their educational goals due to our state’s higher cost of living and the lack of adequate financial aid to cover non-tuition expenses such as textbooks, transportation, basic housing and food."
  • CCC students are eligible for much less grant aid, and therefore often end up with a higher net price than students at public universities.
  • First-generation students face particular challenges around college affordability, largely due to their lack of experience navigating the complicated and bureaucratic financial aid system.
  • Even with tuition waived by programs like the California College Promise Grant, "financial challenges remain the greatest obstacle to college completion."

In acknowledgment of these challenges, CA State Senator Connie Leyva and co-authors have introduced SB-291 Links to an external site., a bill that proposes awarding financial aid based on the total cost of attendance, including non-tuition expenses like textbooks, housing, food and transportation.

Basic Needs

Increased attention has been given to students’ basic needs, as food and housing insecurity have been shown to undermine academic success and impact college completion and persistence (Goldrick-Rab, Richardson, Schneider, Hernandez, & Caty, 2018).

The #RealCollege Links to an external site. survey (the nation’s largest annual assessment of basic needs security among college students) was administered at nearly half of the schools in the CCC system in the fall of 2016 and 2018. Almost 40,000 students at 57 CCCs participated. The results indicate Links to an external site.:

  • 50% of respondents were food insecure in the prior 30 days
  • 60% of respondents were housing insecure in the previous year
  • 19% of respondents were homeless in the previous year
  • In all, 7 in 10 students had experienced food insecurity, housing insecurity, or homelessness during the previous year.
  • Rates of basic needs insecurity are higher for marginalized students, including African Americans, students identifying as LGBTQ, and students considered independent from their parents or guardians.

Attributions:

Page adopted from "True Costs & Basic Needs" "Zero Textbook Cost Pathways: OER & Equity" by Aloha Sargent is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Links to an external site.

Textbox: Foundation for California Community Colleges. (n.d.). Vision for success Links to an external site..

"Unpacking California College Affordability: Experts Weigh in on Strengths, Challenges, and Implications Links to an external site." by the Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Links to an external site.

California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. (n.d.). True college cost Links to an external site..

Image: "Chairs, education" Links to an external site. by Nathan Dumlao Links to an external site. is in the Public Domain, CC0 Links to an external site.

Goldrick-Rab, S., Richardson, J., Schneider, J., Hernandez, A., & Cady, C. (2018, April). Still hungry and homeless in college Links to an external site..

Goldrick-Rab, S., Baker-Smith, C., Coca, V., & Looker, E. (2019, March). California Community Colleges #RealCollege survey Links to an external site..