Dr. Linda Garcia
So, six months later, CCCSE followed up with 120,833 students across 273 colleges. Dr. Linda Garcia, executive director of the center, said she hoped to see the needle move to indicate more familiarity with the help available. The percent of those unfamiliar went down to 49.
“Is that progress? Yes," said Garcia. "Is it enough? No.”
The results, and other findings in this latest survey, underlines the continuing impact of COVID-19 on higher education and its disproportionate affects on students of color. Garcia said the results are a signal that colleges and universities have more work to do to help their students gain access to the resources they need and overcome the burdens the pandemic continues to create.
Over one third of students surveyed (34%) responded that their personal financial situations were worse than before the pandemic, a four-percentage point increase from the fall 2020 survey. Just under one quarter said they were struggling to pay for college as a direct result of COVID. Disaggregating that data shows that Asian, Native American, Black, and Latinx students were more likely to have financial difficulties than their white counterparts.
Colleges across the country have employed federal relief funds to aid students, from accessing hot spots in areas without broadband to covering outstanding loans, allowing students to continue their educational journey. But if students don’t know about these resources, then no one will access them.
“I believe colleges are doing everything they can do to communicate, but how are we communicating and [at what] frequency?” said Garcia. “The students are trying to soak the info in, they’re thinking about a million things. It’s about putting the support information in front of them.”
