When students can't meet their basic needs, academic success becomes exponentially harder. That reality shapes whether they enroll, persist, or graduate.

For our third episode, California Competes CEO Su Jin Jez speaks with Dr. Rashida Crutchfield, a leading researcher and advocate whose work has helped spark a basic needs movement in higher education. They dig into what the evidence demands of institutions, policymakers, and communities, and what it will actually take to meet students where they are.

Key Topics

• How the basic needs movement has evolved over two decades, and why rising costs and stubborn misconceptions mean the work is far from over
• Why short-term fixes only go so far, and why cross-sector partnerships are essential to winning deeper investments in student basic needs
• Why housing affordability is quietly shaping who enrolls in college at all

Our Guest
Dr. Rashida Crutchfield is a professor in the School of Social Work at California State University, Long Beach, and executive director of the Center for Equitable Higher Education, a research center dedicated to studying and promoting economic, food, and housing justice.

A leading researcher and advocate, Rashida's work as principal investigator for the CSU system-wide study on food and housing security helped shape basic needs programs across all 23 CSU campuses. She is co-author of Addressing Homelessness and Housing Insecurity in Higher Education: Strategies for Educational Leaders, a widely used resource for institutions developing basic needs programs and services. Dr. Crutchfield is an advisory board member for California ASPIRES, a coalition California Competes recently launched to streamline public benefits for student success.

In This Episode

• College Focused Rapid Rehousing Program
• California Alliance for Streamlining Public Investments and Resources for Every Student (California ASPIRES)
• Higher Ed Research Informing Solutions for Excellence (Higher Ed RISE) initiative
• Improving College Affordability by Streamlining Access to Public Benefits

Stay Connected

• Subscribe to Degrees of Change on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. 
• Sign up to receive updates.
• Follow California Competes on LinkedIn.