Policymakers and practitioners try to increase stagnant college attainment rates in the United States by improving academic skills, providing financial aid, and introducing a range of student support services. Despite these efforts, children from poor families remain greatly underrepresented among college-goers, and only a small fraction of those who enroll ever complete degrees.

This paper examines the possibility that current interventions may miss a critical factor underlying students’ potential to succeed in school: the extent to which their basic human needs for food, shelter, safety, and sleep are met. As Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains, individuals can only undertake “self-actualizing” behaviors once basic biological, physiological, and safety needs are satisfied. But evidence indicates that growing numbers of undergraduates suffer from food and housing insecurity.

Many interventions aimed at increasing college success, however, assume moderate or high levels of personal functioning among low-income students, for example by asking them to begin complying with performance standards in order to receive financial aid. Yet surveys show that two in five students at the City University of New York are food-insecure, and 58,000 students indicated that they were homeless on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid last year. Thus, in this study we ask what do the data reveal about the extent to which the basic human needs of undergraduates from low-income families are met? How are colleges attempting to respond to these needs?

We draw on data from a series of case studies conducted at 11 community colleges in four states (California, New York, Florida, and Louisiana), where in 2013 and 2014 we interviewed students, faculty, and college administrators. We complement this with a longitudinal survey and interview study of 3,000 Pell grant recipients conducted in 42 colleges and universities across Wisconsin from 2008 to 2014. Finally, we include data from five in-depth interviews conducted with financial aid officers across Wisconsin. We examine the incidence of food and housing insecurity as well as sleep deprivation, identify and code for themes about how these needs affect college life and academic success, and triangulate the reports of students and college administrators as to how these needs might be productively addressed.

The findings indicate that prevalence and importance of unmet basic needs is more substantial than past research in higher education implies—students forgo food, sleep little, and find themselves without stable housing. Under these circumstances, it is hard for them to engage effectively with coursework. College and university administrators are aware of these challenges, but often feel impotent when it comes to addressing them. They are wary of conflating education with social services, cognizant of scarce resources, and find themselves praying and hoping for better outcomes without specific plans for action.

There are a range of current activities in this field, including the Working Families Success Network and Single Stop USA, which warrant further investigation to determine efficacy. Future research should guide policymakers and practitioners to help meet students’ basic needs while maintaining the integrity and cost-effectiveness of their educational missions.