The Edquity Blog

Edquity recently partnered with California State University, Dominguez Hills to administer over $200,000 in emergency aid for their Transfer Student Support Fund. 

Emergency aid programs are an essential campus resource for college students facing basic needs insecurities. However, outdated systems cause many emergency aid programs to appear archaic and challenging for students to navigate.

Research shows that, despite colleges having accessible funds, many students are unaware that they are eligible for emergency aid grants through their institution or believe the application process is too burdensome to apply.

Our Edquity Team Spotlights highlight Edquity team members and the work they do to reimagine the safety net. In this spotlight, meet Deven Comen, our VP of Strategic Initiatives.

The Edquity team recently attended the 2022 NASPA Conferences to learn about factors affecting emergency aid and first-generation student success.

According to a 2019 report by the Federal Reserve, 63 million Americans are either unbanked or underbanked. What does this mean for the future of accessible emergency aid and cash assistance?

Our Edquity Team Spotlights highlight Edquity team members and the work they do to improve students’ lives. In this spotlight, meet Leobardo Gudino, Product Designer, who joined Edquity in September 2021.

Edquity recently partnered with Compton College and Believe in Students to administer over $50,000 in emergency aid to Compton College’s dual-enrolled students, the first initiative of its kind.

San Diego Mesa, which had previously partnered with Edquity to distribute emergency aid, knew that the platform offered the capabilities they needed to deliver millions of dollars in HEERF funding. 

Research shows that a student’s ability to pay for the total cost of college — including basic living expenses, textbooks, lab fees, housing deposits, and other non-tuition-related costs — is directly connected to their ability to complete their degree.

Our Edquity Team Spotlights highlight Edquity team members and the work they do to improve students’ lives. In this spotlight, meet Mary Sherman, Partner Success Manager, who joined Edquity in February 2021.

First-generation college students face unique financial and cultural challenges that make the college experience even more difficult.

Recognizing the unmet need of dual enrollment students, Compton College partnered with Believe in Students and Edquity to offer emergency aid to this vulnerable population.

We’ve identified five programs around the U.S. that are particularly innovative in the ways in which they address basic needs insecurity.

Scholarship-granting organizations often face challenges in deciding how best to administrate their funds for maximum impact. Differentiating between need-based and merit-based scholarships is an important starting point. 

Mental wellness is fast becoming a priority focus, and institutions that prioritize it are seeing positive results.

Financial trauma is a secret scourge for many American college students. Student affairs and financial aid professionals can play a significant role in helping students manage their financial stressors and remain enrolled.

The Edquity team was onsite at NASPA 2022 to learn from some of the brightest leaders in the field and discuss the future of emergency aid programs.

What is money anxiety disorder and how can colleges help their students cope?

For most universities, student affairs and financial aid are completely separate functions—yet the two share a common purpose. After all, both exist to help students make the most of their college experience.

Our Edquity Team Spotlights highlight Edquity team members and the work they do to improve students’ lives. In this spotlight, meet Ormond Derrick, Business Development Manager.

Tuition assistance is a powerful tool—but it’s not much help when the fridge is empty and rent is due. 

How can institutional leaders and policymakers take action to address the crisis of housing insecurity among their students?

What is housing insecurity and how do we build programs to address it?

When it comes to the use of federal funds to address basic needs, here are some best practices institutions should consider as they apply for funding and implement programs.

Our Edquity Team Spotlights highlight Edquity team members and the work they do to improve students’ lives. In this spotlight, meet Keyarash Jahanian, Product Manager.

Our new Impact Report highlights how our team has continuously lived our values and brought innovative solutions to complex social and economic challenges.

Staff fatigue is reaching its breaking point as staffing shortages in financial aid offices have created challenges, such as long wait times, lack of knowledge and disintegrating student support. 

A recent analysis from Edquity's student responses showed transportation as one of the top basic needs insecurity categories.

Colleges and universities have a prime opportunity to address student housing insecurity and support homeless students.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought conversations about emergency financial aid to the front page of news outlets, and new legislation passed during the pandemic has created more opportunities for the federal government and universities to help students.

When we started Edquity in 2016, it was with a single mission in mind: to ensure that poverty would no longer be a barrier to higher education graduation. A mission simply stated, but in reality no easy feat.

Our Edquity Team Spotlights highlight Edquity team members and the work they do to improve students’ lives. In this spotlight, meet Melanie Butron, Partner Success Manager, who has been at Edquity for 2 years.

Our partners at the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, founded by Edquity’s Chief Strategy Officer Sara Goldrick-Rab, released a report that takes a closer look at a strategy implemented at Amarillo College.

This year, Latinx students’ first-time enrollment dropped by nearly 20 percent.

Recapping key findings from the newly launched report from the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice.

Natural disasters cause unplanned displacement and disruption on college students. Learn ways to support student basic needs during these times.

When basic needs supports go underutilized by students, it's a sign that something deeper is going on.

Rental prices in major metro areas nearly doubled over the past decade, and rent in these areas has bounced back and surpassed previous levels since COVID.

Getting to the root of the issues that drive basic needs insecurity will require systemic policy change that will take more time than today’s students have to wait.

Facilitating partnership between two critical parts of the institution

Outside of the pressures that come from juggling academic responsibilities, student parents are responsible for the all-important work of raising happy and healthy children in a safe home environment.

Campus leaders have begun to recognize the critical importance of having on-campus basic needs coordinators

Funds from the federal government's HEERF are creating unique opportunities and challenges when it comes to the distribution of emergency aid to students.

Social impact organization helps institutions distribute funding to more than 60,000 students quickly, equitably, and in compliance with federal guidance

As the dust settles from an unprecedented year in American higher education, new research is helping institutions understand the extent of COVID-19’s impact on enrollment.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education released new guidance to help colleges and universities understand how to distribute the third round of funds from HEERF III

While the guidance from HEERF III is clear victory for students, institutions now face a daunting burden.

3 Important HEERF III Considerations

Here are five ways that we put racial equity at the forefront of emergency aid

Distributing emergency aid funds quickly and equitably

When we say “research-informed,” we mean it. We created the first-ever emergency aid platform hand-in-hand with our Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, the nation’s leading expert on student basic needs insecurity.

Creating an equitable and rapid solution in the wake of the CARES Act

Compton College students who received emergency aid via Edquity were twice as likely to graduate. Preliminary evaluation finds cash grants hold promise for promoting degree completion among community college students, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Edquity offers the first emergency aid and basic needs insecurity technology for college students, with the goal of scaling a culture of caring.

College Signing Day and students’ financial commitments to their schools aren’t a finish line. Rather, the financial journey for students is truthfully just beginning.

It’s no secret that we live in a new and harrowing time with regards to college affordability and the value proposition of college.