When students can’t afford basic goods and services that are essential to their wellbeing and success, or worry they won’t be able to, they are experiencing basic needs insecurity.
Understanding Basic Needs Insecurity
College student basic needs are goods and services that can be purchased with money that are essential for student wellbeing and success.
While needs can vary depending on a students’ individual circumstances, a student’s basic needs are generally considered to be met when they can find, obtain, and pay for the following items and services without worry and without cutting back on other basic needs:
- Food
- Housing
- Personal care items and services (including clothing and seasonal outerwear)
- Computer, phone & internet access (including personal laptop, smartphone and monthly plan, home internet access)
- Books & school supplies (including printing costs)
- Healthcare (insurance premiums, deductibles, copays, prescription medications)
- Transportation
Basic needs insecurity can look like needing to make tradeoffs between purchases of essential goods and services, or needing to obtain essential goods and services through socially unacceptable ways (e.g., dumpster diving for food, getting clothes from the lost and found).
It occurs on a spectrum with occasional or ongoing worry about one’s ability to pay for basic needs on one end, and chronic hunger or homelessness or lack of another essential good or service on the other end.
In 2024, 1 in 4 University of Minnesota Twin Cities undergraduate students and 1 in 5 graduate students worried they would run out of food or ran out of food before they could buy more. Nearly half worried they wouldn’t have enough money to cover the cost of their housing (College Student Health Survey).
Hunger and financial worry impact students in serious ways. Students who worry about their ability to afford food and housing are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, more likely to feel disconnected from the campus community, and less satisfied with their academic experience.
“I skip meals. Usually lunch and breakfast. I do have like maybe a granola bar or something. I mean there are days where I don't have to go out then I'll just like... not move so much so I don't get so hungry.”
-UMN Student
Community Resources
This page is focused on resources available in the Twin Cities area. If you need resources in a different area, United Way 211 can help connect you based on your location.