Higher education is critically important for students and families. It helps them earn more and succeed in the workforce, strengthen their communities, and enrich our democracy. At the same time, college has become much more difficult to afford, particularly for those with the fewest financial resources. Often, policy choices have exacerbated this affordability crisis.

Today, three in five college students do not have enough to eat or a safe place to live, and millions lack access to essential resources such as health care, child care, transportation, course materials, and technology. Nationally representative federal data have also confirmed that all types of students at all types of colleges struggle to meet their basic needs. Few students who experience basic needs insecurity are accessing public or tax benefits or campus supports

The Hope Center at Temple University urges federal, state, and local policymakers to treat students as humans first by helping them afford the full cost of college. We call for major reforms to public benefits to focus on students’ basic needs, significant increases in funding for public higher education and institutions that serve high percentages of students of color, and more equitable design and implementation of financial aid programs. 

Recent Highlights:

Policy Priorities:

• Letter to Congress on The Hope Center’s FY 2026 Appropriations Priorities (April 17, 2025) 

• 2025 Federal Policy Priorities

Letters:

• Comment Letter on the 2026-27 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) (April 7, 2025)

• Coalition Letter to the Biden-Harris Administration on Student Food Insecurity and SNAP (November 4, 2024)

• Comment on the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Request for Information (September 13, 2024)

• Coalition Letter to Congress Supporting the Basic Needs Grant (July 19, 2024)

• Letter to Congress on H.R. 8932, the FAFSA Deadline Act (July 9, 2024)

• Letter to the U.S. Department of Education on the 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Round I (June 14, 2024)

• Coalition Letter to Congress about SNAP Student Rules in the Farm Bill  (April 2, 2024)

• Comments to the U.S. Department of Education on Addressing Student Mental Health (February 23, 2024)

Publications:

• During Financial Aid Season, Colleges Should Support Students with the Greatest Needs (March 27, 2025)

• How Colleges Set Their Prices: The Need for Federal Oversight of Cost of Attendance in Higher Education (December 17, 2024)

• The Hope Blog: It's Time for Congress to Meet the Needs of Parenting Students (September 19, 2024)

• SHEEO Blog: Connecting College Students with Public Benefits: A New Era of Outreach (August 22, 2024)

• GAO Confirms What We Already Know: Students Face Unacceptable Food Insecurity (July 25, 2024)

• The State of State Choices: A national landscape analysis of postsecondary eligibility restrictions and opportunities in SNAP, CCDF, and TANF (May 6, 2024)

• The Hope Blog: The Government Funding Deal: For Students, It's Treading Water (March 25, 2024)

• The Hope Blog: President Biden proposes new funding to support student basic needs. (March 14, 2024)

• The Hope Blog: Students can get money back when they file taxes. It’s time to tell them about it. (January 29, 2024)

• Boosting the Student Voice & Student Vote: Leveraging Higher Education to Expand Participation in Democracy (November 2023)
• Continuing the Federal Investment in Emergency Aid Grants (August 2023)
• New Federal Data Confirm that College Students Face Significant—and Unacceptable—Basic Needs Insecurity (August 2023)
• The Hope Blog: Child Care Is Crucial for Supporting Parenting Students in North Carolina—and Everywhere (August 2023)
• The Hope Blog: The Supreme Court Blocks Student Loan Forgiveness—and Progress (June 30, 2023)
• The Hope Blog: Congress Needs to Address the Child Care Crisis for Parenting Students. Here’s How (February 10, 2023)
• Closing the College SNAP Gap: Strategies for States and Colleges to Reduce Food Insecurity (January 2023)
• Pennsylvania Parent Pathways Learning Network Policy Report (December 31, 2022)
• The Hope Blog: Abortion Access is a Student Basic Need (December 12, 2022)
• States Leading the Way in SNAP Eligibility and Outreach to Students (June 2022)
• States Leading the Way in Emergency Aid for College Students (June 2022)
• Helping Students Meet Basic Needs to Support Their Success (June 2022)
• When Care Isn’t Enough: Scaling Emergency Aid During the Pandemic (October 2021)
• The Real Price of College: Estimating and Supporting Students’ Financial Needs (October 2021) 
• The Real Price of College: How Using the Negative Expected Family Contribution Can Better Support Students (April 2021)
• Technical Research Memo: An Early Look at a Pilot SNAP Outreach Intervention in California (March 2022)
• Resourcing the Part-Time Student: Rethinking the Use of FTEs in Higher Education Budgets  (May 20, 2020)

Statements and Announcements:

• The Hope Center Statement on the House Budget Reconciliation Bill Cutting Student Aid (April 2025)

• Statement on Executive Order Aimed at Eliminating the U.S. Department of Education (March 2025)

• Statement on Mass Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Education (March 2025)

• The Hope Center Awarded Grant from Lumina Foundation to Support Federal Policy Solutions that Secure Students’ Basic Needs (January 2024)

Events & Recordings:

• Webinar: FY 2024 Basic Needs Grants Walk-Through with ACCT & The Hope Center (August 2024)
• Webinar: FAFSA Fixes for Homeless and Foster Youth: What You Need to Know Now (December 2022)
• 2022 Virtual Policy Summit (September 2022)
• Webinar: The Real Price of College: Revealing True Student Financial Need (May 13, 2021)

Archive:

The following items are archived because they contain time-limited information that may no longer be relevant to current policy.