ECMC Foundation Basic Needs Initiative Evaluation Reports
We worked closely with the seven grantees of ECMC Foundation’s Basic Needs Initiative (BNI) to collect data and interpret the findings collected in this pair of reports. The BNI’s purpose was to support colleges and universities in developing and expanding the basic needs services they provide to students. These services help students fulfill basic needs such as housing, food, and transportation—without which they often struggle to succeed in college.
The first report examines implementation of basic needs services and provides lessons for sustaining basic needs services focused on four goals. The findings suggest that institutions understand that basic needs services are fundamental to student success, but challenges remain around student access and institutional tracking.
The second report draws on student-level data from postsecondary institutions to understand who accessed basic needs services and the impact of accessing these services on short-term academic outcomes. This study highlights the current limitations of administrative data on basic needs services usage, its value in uncovering which students access services among the total student population (even among students not enrolled in a term and high school students), and the connection between accessing services and outcomes.