Virtual Campus, Real Support: Emergency Aid at Southern New Hampshire University 

Too many students face basic needs insecurity but fall through the cracks when it comes to finding support. Efficient, on-the-ground emergency aid programs can keep them in school—even if their college experience isn’t on a traditional campus. Here’s how it worked for one school during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rethinking assumptions about students 

Increasingly, the traditional idea of students being young adults, living on campus and devoting their time to school and social life isn’t always accurate. College students are balancing work, family, commuting and school—and, at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), though 97% of the school’s 180,000-plus students are enrolled online, they still face the same difficulties as in-person students.  

And, just like students on campuses across the country, thousands of them experienced job losses, childcare struggles and unexpected medical bills during the pandemic. 

Mobilizing support through federal funds 

As reported by the Center for Higher Education Policy and Practice (CHEPP), “During the pandemic, SNHU received a total of $107 million in HEERF grants and distributed all of the funds directly to 51,257 qualifying learners in the form of emergency grants to support basic needs.” 

CHEPP studied the impact and effectiveness of this emergency aid outlay, publishing their findings in two whitepapers. What they discovered was: 

• Housing, transportation and food are the most common challenges facing learners who may be balancing work, school and family responsibilities. Additionally, 56% of emergency aid recipients reported they were living with dependents, 77% were facing multiple basic needs challenges, and 87% were receiving financial aid. 

• Emergency aid had a measurable, positive impact on student persistence. The CHEPP study covered the second and third allotments of federal aid and found “HEERF II recipients were 15.5% more likely to stay enrolled … and HEERF III recipients were 8.6% more likely to stay enrolled.” 

• Broader outreach efforts are needed across the board. While all students enrolled at SNHU during the two-year pandemic period—around 275,000—were invited to apply for aid, only “about 7.6%, or 58,008 learners applied for HEERF awards. Of those, 51,257 qualified for assistance and were awarded a total of $107 million in HEERF funds over the two-year period of the pandemic.” 

This finding mirrors the wider issue of students either not knowing about or not thinking they qualify for aid programs. The report highlights that “Many learners fall through the cracks of eligibility thresholds for available supports across federal financial aid, housing, and food programs, both in terms of the amount of funding available as well as the procedural deadlines and requirements. The U.S. government distributes over $22 billion in Title IV funding nationally each year (including both grants and loans), but the majority goes to tuition, with very little left to help with students’ basic needs.” 

The next steps 

Because the federal HEERF funding made an impact on students—and because SNHU learned more about funding and outreach gaps as a result—the school has since developed a pilot program for continued basic-needs support. Using a predictive algorithm created in conjunction with Beam (formerly Edquity), the market leader in emergency aid technology, the school is testing new interventions and outreach strategies to ensure their students have the right support at the right time, no matter where they are.