Replay the Webinar

About the Webinar

Higher education is one of the most powerful engines of economic mobility. When students experiencing homelessness are able to enroll and persist, complete credentials, and enter the workforce with stability, the benefits extend to families, communities, and the nation. Yet college student homelessness is under-identified and distinct in its impacts.

A new data analysis compares students who have experienced homelessness with their peers — and with first-generation students — and finds that homelessness is associated with deeper and more layered hardship that can derail persistence and completion. The findings underscore that standard “basic needs” supports or first-generation initiatives may not be sufficient on their own to reach students experiencing homelessness, and that intentional identification and targeted responses are needed alongside broader supports.

Join SchoolHouse Connection and Trellis Strategies for an overview of our new report, Removing Barriers, Building Futures: Data-Informed Policies to Support College Students Experiencing Homelessness.

Participants learn how to:

• Interpret the disaggregated data findings, including how students who have experienced homelessness differ from their peers and from first-generation students across key domains – and why those differences matter for persistence and completion.
• Translate the data into action by identifying concrete campus practices and state and federal policies that are aligned with what the data show: homelessness is often hidden, compounds hardship, and requires comprehensive, cross-sector responses.

Presenters:

• Jillian Sitjar – Director of Higher Education, SchoolHouse Connection
• Barbara Duffield – Executive Director, SchoolHouse Connection
• Carla Fletcher – Principal Research Associate, Trellis Strategies

Explore the Report