The Edquity Blog

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.