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ACADEMIA Letters Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Basic Needs Security among Vulnerable College Students: An Exploratory Study Terrell Strayhorn COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a novel betacoronavirus, has upended all of life, including higher education (Sohrabi, Alsafi, & O’Neill et al., 2020). The spread of COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (2020) and at the time of this writing there were more than 32.4 million confirmed cases in the United States (U.S.) and over 577,400 deaths, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University. The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role colleges and universities play in meeting the basic needs of vulnerable students, ranging from food- and housing securities, safety, and sense of belonging. For example, most 2- and 4-year colleges were forced to pivot all in-person, on-campus activities to “online only” virtually overnight with little notice (Wang, Horby, Hayden, & Gao, 2020). COVID-19 has also caused record-breaking rates of unemployment, remote working stress, forced displacement or homelessness, and food insecurity (Kumar & Navar, 2020), especially among vulnerable college student populations. One national study found that 14% of college student respondents were affected by homelessness due to the pandemic (Goldrick-Rab, Coca, Kienzl, Welton, Dahl, & Magnelia, 2021). Campus closures and reduced capacity on-campus resulted in some students losing access to campus dining, stable housing in residence halls, and other on-campus services like university-sponsored food pantries, case managers, clothing closets, and emergency aid. Students vulnerable to food insecurity also have lower college persistence rates (El Zein, Shelnutt, Colby, Vilaro, et al., 2019). In addition to struggling with basic needs insecurity, college students face significant mental health challenges during the pandemic. For instance, results from the national #RealAcademia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Terrell Strayhorn, terrell.strayhorn@gmail.com Citation: Strayhorn, T. (2021). Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Basic Needs Security among Vulnerable College Students: An Exploratory Study. Academia Letters, Article 1786. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1786. 1 College survey sponsored by the Hope Center at Temple University suggest that 35% of students exhibit at least moderate anxiety (Goldrick-Rab et al., 2021). Social isolation through pandemic-induced domicile confinement or quarantine has also been linked with chronic depression and suicide in prior studies (Rubin, 2020). Whereas previous researchers have examined the impact of COVID-19 on the general population’s public health (Sohrabi et al., 2020) and technology operations at 2- and 4-year higher education institutions (Wang et al., 2020), comparatively less attention has been directed investigating the impact of COVID-19 on basic needs security for vulnerable college students who have been disproportionately impacted by the unprecedented pandemic that has exacerbated pre-existing inequities (Kumar & Navar, 2020). This is the gap addressed by the study presented in this brief report. METHODS Sample Study participants were drawn from a larger sample in the parent study. The analytic sample included 252 college students who responded to the web-based survey. Almost 70% were White and 30% were underrepresented racial minorities (URMs), including 12% Asian Pacific Islander, 8% Latinx/Hispanic, and 8% Black/African American. Over half (59%) were female. Respondents were diverse in terms of sexual orientation: 87% heterosexual, 7% bisexual, and 6% gay, lesbian, or otherwise non-heterosexual. Data Collection Data were collected via a controlled-access internet-based survey. The survey was administered by a California-based survey research firm between late Spring and Winter 2020. The sampling strategy consisted of using random location sampling, stratified by region and college/university type, as described elsewhere [Author blinded]. The survey was developed by the author using well-established scales and items, in consonance with existing theory and research. Comprised of 22 items, the survey was designed to assess people’s pandemic experiences including how they spent their time, physical and psychological well-being, engagement in COVID-19 transmission risk reduction measures, and future-focused outlooks. Precedent for using such items was set in a previous study (Strayhorn, 2019). Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Terrell Strayhorn, terrell.strayhorn@gmail.com Citation: Strayhorn, T. (2021). Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Basic Needs Security among Vulnerable College Students: An Exploratory Study. Academia Letters, Article 1786. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1786. 2 Data Analysis Data analysis proceeded in several stages. First, all variables were prepared for statistical analysis using recoding and data cleaning techniques. Other procedures were used to assess missingness—overall, less than 2% of cases were missing so imputation was not necessary (Allison, 2002). RESULTS Results from the survey analysis indicate that 16.7% of respondents filed for unemployment, 12.3% experienced homelessness or housing insecurity, and 36.5% reported food insecurity for longer than one day, due to COVID-19. Over half (52.8%) of survey respondents worked (part- or full-time) remotely from home, 70.1% worried about their future (anxiety), 11% lost a loved one over the last few months due to COVID-19 spread in the U.S. In terms of COVID-19 serostatus, the vast majority of survey respondents reported “no symptoms” (81%), while 8% “suffered mild symptoms,” 2% “suffered serious symptoms,” and 9% didn’t know their COVID-19 status at the time of survey completion. DISCUSSION The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on basic needs security among vulnerable college students using a sample of respondents drawn from a larger parent study consisting of over 2,000 participants. Generally, the present study’s results suggest a negative impact of COVID-19 on basic needs security of U.S. college students. For instance, almost one-fifth of survey respondents filed for unemployment or lost their jobs due to COVID-19. Over one-third reported being hungry or food insecure for more than a day due to COVID-19, while 12% were homeless or housing insecure during that same time period. Over half worked remotely from home and three-fourths reported anxiety, worrying about their future in light of COVID-19. Despite high rates of COVID-19 induced anxiety and food insecurities, only 10% of survey respondents suffered mild or serious COVID symptoms. Findings presented herein generally simplify those reported elsewhere (Goldrick-Rab et al, 2021). Study results have important implications for policy and practice. For instance, campus housing directors and security officers might consider these results when formulating policies that govern if/when university residence halls are open, to whom, and for what purpose(s). Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Terrell Strayhorn, terrell.strayhorn@gmail.com Citation: Strayhorn, T. (2021). Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Basic Needs Security among Vulnerable College Students: An Exploratory Study. Academia Letters, Article 1786. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1786. 3 In this study, closing campuses or restricting access due to COVID-19 resulted in some students losing basic needs like employment (e.g., on-campus part-time jobs, workstudy), stable housing, nutritious food, and technology. Without work, some students are unable to pay college costs, especially first-generation and low-income students of color (El Zein et al., 2019). Housing officials would do well to keep residence and dining halls open—even amid breaks— to help meet students’ basic physiological needs. When that’s not possible, emergency/visitor housing, gas cards, “hotspots” (mobile WiFi), local food bank partnerships, and telehealth services are essential. That some survey respondents lost jobs, housing, income, and access to food due to COVID-19 points to the vital role that state and federal policies play in addressing such issues. For example, federal and state policies that increase access to emergency aid programs, meal vouchers, food stamps, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can better support financially-distressed college students without basic needs, especially those facing shortfalls threatening to disrupt their education. It truly takes a village and, consequently, some colleges have built sustainable partnerships with local and public health (e.g., COVID vaccination sites, counseling) and/or service agencies (e.g., food banks, food trucks) to better support vulnerable students. Addressing their basic needs is critical to expanding higher education access and ensuring equitable opportunities for degree completion and college success, not just for some, but all. REFERENCES Allison, P. D. (2002). Missing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. El Zein, A., Shelnutt, K. P., Colby, S., Vilaro, M. J., Zhou, W., Greene, G., Olfert, M. D., Riggsbee, K., Stabile Morrell, J., & Matthews, A. E. (2019). Prevalence and correlates of food security among U.S. college students: A multi-institutional survey. BMC Public Health, 19, 660. Goldrick-Rab, S., Coca, V., Kienzl, G., Welton, C. R., Dahl, S., & Magnelia, S. (2021). #RealCollege during the pandemic: New evidence on basic needs insecurity and student well-being. Philadelphia, PA: The Hope Center, Temple University. Kumar, A., & Nayar, K. R. (2020). COVID-19 and its mental health consequences. Journal of Mental Health, 30(1), 1-2. Rubin, J. G. (2020). The psychological effects of quarantining a city. BMJ, 368, m313. Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Terrell Strayhorn, terrell.strayhorn@gmail.com Citation: Strayhorn, T. (2021). Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Basic Needs Security among Vulnerable College Students: An Exploratory Study. Academia Letters, Article 1786. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1786. 4 Sohrabi, C., Alsafi, Z., O’Neill, N., Khan, M., Kerwan, A., Al-Jabir, A., Iosifidis, C., & Agha, R. (2020). World health organizations declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19). International Journal of Surgery, 76, 71-76. https://dx. doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ijsu.2020.02.034 Strayhorn, T. L. (2019). College students’ sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Wang, C., Horby, P. W., Hayden, F. G., & Gao, G. F. (2020). A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet, 395, 470-473. World Health Organization. (2020). Statement on the second meeting of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). NOTE. This brief scientific report presents results from an exploratory analysis of data drawn from a larger parent study comprised of over 2,000 respondents. Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Terrell Strayhorn, terrell.strayhorn@gmail.com Citation: Strayhorn, T. (2021). Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Basic Needs Security among Vulnerable College Students: An Exploratory Study. Academia Letters, Article 1786. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1786. 5