Many higher education institutions have a goal to enroll students from a variety of backgrounds, ages, economic classes, and lived experiences, but a majority of these colleges or universities have outdated policies or structures that make it difficult for all students to thrive on campus.
A minority of college students today are “traditional,” meaning they are first-time students taking classes full-time. And among federal Pell Grant recipients with greater financial need, this is even more true, with only 43 percent of four-year students receiving Pell Grants falling into the “traditional” category.
For lower income students, being able to access campus resources for basic needs can be significant factors in their enrollment and completion. However, basic needs challenges such as food insecurity or transportation are often addressed in higher education policy as isolated or separate obstacles, each uniquely impacting individual students.
For the Modern Learner—a student who often comes to campus with primary personas other than “student”—these are interconnected barriers that can stack up and impede progress toward a degree.
When institutions treat these as peripheral or secondary issues, the result is predictable: disrupted enrollment, stop-outs, and uneven outcomes for learners. Instead, colleges and universities should take an integrated approach that recognizes the ways a student’s life off campus can also impact their work and success on campus.
Smoothing Transportation
A lack of reliable transportation can be a barrier to students’ ability to attend courses, and in turn, complete a degree.
Trellis Strategies’ 2024 Student Financial Wellness Survey (SFWS) found 15 percent of students reported missing class at least sometimes due to a lack of transportation. Even among students who had a car (three in four respondents), nearly one in five indicated that their car was only “somewhat reliable” or “not at all reliable.”
“I’ve found myself broken down on the side of the road … kind of stranded depending on the severity of it,” one student at a Midwestern institution shared.
Students indicated using a variety of creative solutions to make it to campus, including carpooling to the bus stop, accounting for numerous delays in public transport or biking.
Ashley Mowreader is a freelance data journalist. Previously, Ashley worked for Inside Higher Ed covering barriers to student success nationally, with a focus on evidence-based solutions. She holds a bachelor’s in journalism from Pepperdine University and is currently pursuing her master’s in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.