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: Padilla highlights BASIC Act to help students facing basic needs challenges including access to food, housing, and health care

September 19, 2024 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Weddnesday, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Representative Norma J. Torres (D-Calif.-35) hosted local students and advocates to reintroduce the Basic Assistance for Students in College (BASIC) Act, bicameral legislation to help ensure college students can meet their basic needs while pursuing their education. This legislation aims to combat the basic needs crisis by allocating funding to help students access nutritious food, safe and secure housing, mental and physical health care, high-quality and affordable child care, technology, transportation, personal hygiene, and other necessities. The bill also directs the federal government to streamline data sharing across agencies to help qualifying students access aid. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is co-leading the bill in the Senate.

2024 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that in 2020, nearly 3.8 million college students faced food insecurity, and almost 60 percent of those likely eligible were not receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

The introduction comes as House Republicans actively push to cut funding for essential health and education programs. Among the targeted areas is the U.S. Department of Education’s Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program, a crucial part of the BASIC Act. This legislation is designed to provide students with the support they need, ensuring their basic needs are met while pursuing higher education. Without this critical funding, many students could face additional barriers to completing their degrees and achieving economic mobility.

“For far too many students whose families aren’t able to help them cover tuition or rent, a return to campus means having to figure out how to juggle classwork and jobs while affording everything from meals to housing to health care,” said Senator Padilla. “It’s not enough just to get our kids to school. We need to create a student social safety net that sets them up for success. By establishing a billion-dollar competitive grant program through the BASIC Act, we can help institutions meet the basic needs of students nationwide.”

“No one should worry about going hungry or meeting their other basic needs while working towards their education. This legislation will ensure that students have the tools they need to succeed throughout their college careers,” said Senator Warren.

“Students should never have to choose between buying books or buying food, safe housing, or medical care,” said Representative Torres. “As college costs rise, the BASIC Act addresses these challenges by fostering collaboration among federal agencies and supporting colleges in identifying and aiding students in need. It also focuses on gathering crucial data on food and housing insecurity. As a mother and grandmother, this issue is deeply personal to me. This bill will help ensure that all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can succeed without compromising their well-being.”

“We cannot expect students to focus on their education and achieve their academic, professional, and personal dreams if they are worried about where their next meal will come from or where they will sleep at night,” said California State University Chancellor Mildred García. “If we truly believe in higher education as a powerful engine of social mobility, we must prove it by addressing the basic needs insecurity that tragically holds back so many of our diverse and talented students — our future leaders. Passing the ‘BASIC Act’ introduced today by Senator Padilla and Representative Torres would have a profound and positive impact on the lives of our students who are most at-risk and whose college success is far from guaranteed.”

“Meeting both the academic and basic needs of students remains a top priority for the University of California,” said University of California Essential Needs Consortium (UCENC) Co-Director Education & Training Ruben E. Canedo. “It is imperative, especially, that we work to address the basic needs of contemporary students, which impacts students’ ability to thrive and obtain a degree. The University of California (UC) supports the Basic Assistance for Students in College (BASIC) Act, which would allow the Department of Education to establish a competitive grant program for the scaling up and expansion of basic needs resources on college campuses across the country. This has been a decade-long UC priority and would go a long way in providing students with the essential needs to persist in higher education.”

Specifically, the BASIC Act establishes a $1 billion competitive grant program to help colleges and universities — including community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other minority-serving institutions (MSIs) — address students’ unmet basic needs and enhance data sharing between federal agencies that manage public assistance programs.

The BASIC Act is cosponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The legislation is endorsed by the American Council on Education, California Community Colleges, Communities for Our Colleges, Complete College America, the Community Food Bank of San Benito County, Excelencia in Education, Food for People, Generation Hope, Hunger Free America Inc., Institute of Higher Education Policy, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Michelson Center for Public Policy, National College Attainment Network, New America, Higher Education Policy Program, Nourish California, Ohio Association of Foodbanks, One Family, SchoolHouse Connection, Swipe Out Hunger, Today’s Students Coalition, the California State University, University of California, University of California Student Association, and Waukegan to College.

Senator Padilla has consistently advocated on behalf of students to increase access to higher education. He recently introduced the Student Food Security Act of 2024, bicameral legislation to address food insecurity faced by college students nationwide. Padilla previously cosponsored the College for All Act to make college tuition-free and debt-free for working families. He also cosponsored the Pell Grant Preservation and Expansion Act, bicameral legislation that would nearly double the Pell Grant maximum award, index the maximum award for inflation, and expand the program to include Dreamers.

Padilla has led numerous letters urging President Biden to provide meaningful student debt cancellation, along with multiple letters urging U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to leverage his authority under the Higher Education Act to provide expanded student debt relief to working and middle-class borrowers. Earlier this year, Padilla hosted a webinar to encourage all eligible students across California, including those from mixed status families, to apply for federal and state financial aid. He also led a letter with 25 Senate co-signers to urge Secretary Cardona to address the FAFSA form error that prevents students with contributors, including parents and spouses, who do not have a Social Security Number from completing the new FAFSA form.

A one-pager on the BASIC Act is available here.

Full text of the bill is available here.
Source: Senator Alex Padilla