Since the University of Southern California’s (USC) campus closed in the wake of the coronavirus, going to class looks a little different for junior Andrea Alba.
A first-generation low-income student, Alba now shares a room with her two brothers, ages 16 and 25, in her family’s two-bedroom house. Her parents, who work at USC, are also at home, waiting on emails about what their work will look like during the campus shutdown. There’s no room where she can be alone to take her online courses.
“If I go in my room, my brothers are there. If I’m in the kitchen, if I’m in the living room, someone’s always there,” Alba said. “I don’t have space to be as productive as I can. I don’t have space to do my classes comfortably.”
Meanwhile, she has a payment due to the university for her dorm room and dining services, campus resources she hasn’t been using during the shutdown. She recognizes the school is still figuring out how to dole out refunds amidst the chaos, but “I don’t have this money,” she said.
In the past month, Alba and classmates like her have faced a lot of uncertainty and a slew of extra costs. Universities are working hard to respond, but for students who rely heavily on campus resources like food, housing and healthcare, there is a growing list of needs.
A survey by Course Hero, which offers online academic resources, bears out just how diverse those needs are in the wake of the coronavirus. The education technology company is opening a student emergency relief fund, and in doing so, analyzed students’ applications to get a better sense of low-income students’ costs. A breakdown of responses from 15,000 students from about 4,000 universities showed that money for rent and food each made up a quarter of students’ overall financial need, followed by costs associated with lost jobs and technology like laptops and Wi-Fi.
Qualitative data from the survey reveals an even wider array of challenges. Students asked for funds to afford gas, medication, household cleaning products, car repairs, feminine products and so on.
