Gloria Gibson is the former Northeastern Illinois University president, having previously served as Morgan State University’s senior vice president and provost. Throughout her career, Ms. Gibson worked tirelessly to increase student access, success, and career readiness, managing complex university organizations, challenging budgets, and hiring and supervising university staff. This article will look at research undertaken by the State of California underscoring the need for campuses to take a more holistic approach to help students’ achieve success.
On April 10, 2025, The Chronicle of Higher Education sat down with higher education leaders, two of whom had spearheaded a 2023 State of California survey involving 66,000 students. The objective of the conference was to discuss the research findings and open a critical conversation about meeting the basic needs of students and supporting them throughout their learning journey.
Ascendium Education Group partnered with The Chronical of Higher Education to stage the virtual forum. Ascendium, a non-profit organization, was created to strengthen opportunities for students from low-income backgrounds. One way Ascendium Education Group achieves this is through collaborations with organizations like The Chronical of Higher Education, which present a prime opportunity to share insights and tools.
At the event, Ian Wilhelm, deputy managing editor at The Chronical, sat down with Compton College President Keith Curry, Peralta Community College District Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson, Swipe Out Hunger Executive Director Jaime Hansen, and others. The goal was to explore how colleges can rethink existing systems and develop new strategies to empower students.
Tammeil Gilkerson highlighted the importance of California’s state-run Affordability, Food, and Housing Access Task Force, which was created in 2018. She explained, however, that campuses were still seeing students with basic needs insecurities that they were ill-prepared to deal with.
Keith Curry was actually one of the architects of the Affordability, Food, and Housing Access Task Force, which both he and Tammeil Gilkerson had served on, trying to identify ways of increasing support for students and the policy implications.
In 2023, the State of California commissioned a survey of 66,000 students across 88 community colleges to better understand their living situations. The results were stark, with almost half of all students ranking as food insecure. Three out of five students faced housing insecurity, with one in four homeless, the report revealed.
Recognizing the need to build capacity on campuses to meet students’ needs directly, the Affordability, Food, and Housing Access Task Force developed the Real College California Coalition, which includes more than 100 member colleges. The Task Force also stages an annual Basic Needs Summit, bringing together more than 400 practitioners to share knowledge and strategies.
The California State survey revealed that, along with members of the LGBTQ+ community, Black, Alaska native, and American Indian students were more likely to report basic needs insecurity. Students aged 21 to 30 reported higher levels of insecurity than their younger peers. The report also revealed that three-quarters of respondents were seeking work, suggesting a lack of parity between Pell Grant funding and inflationary pressures.
Be it post-secondary education or workforce training, learning after high school provides young people with the surest path to rewarding, well-paid jobs. However, that path is not always clear for those who need it most. Higher education changes lives but only where systems are built for today’s learners. Around the world, academic institutions are redesigning their programs and systems to support the success of their students. Research such as that undertaken by the State of California’s Affordability, Food, and Housing Access Task Force is integral to identifying better ways of adequately supporting young people and enabling them to continue their educational journey, thereby boosting not only their career prospects but also their entire life trajectory.