Who is Believe
in Students?
College is a main route out of poverty, a cornerstone in the building of a great society, and a key hiring prerequisite of many employers. But far too many students are facing poverty during college, keeping them from completing degrees. Financial aid falls well short of today’s prices and many college students do not have their basic needs met: a place to live, good food to eat, transportation to and from school.
Believe in Students is the nation’s only non-profit organization built to help college students meet those basic living expenses. We do this work by providing resources directly to students to help meet their basic needs, and then by engaging those same students in sharing their stories to help create change. When students tell us what they need – we believe them.
FAST Fund
Strengthening Retention and Graduation Rates
Provides flexible, timely, and direct financial assistance to striving college students, addressing urgent needs and emergencies that can otherwise derail their educational journey.
Great Lakes Consortium
Building a Network for Real Change
Highlighting the existing gaps in the higher education system and the misalignment with the needs of today’s #RealCollege students, we aim to shed light on a pressing issue that necessitates innovative solutions.
#RealCollege Curriculum
Master Class for Higher education professionals
Highly engaging, self-paced learning taught by experienced students and practitioners to share research, best practices and personal experiences with strategies to support today’s #RealCollege students.
FAST Fund Sites Across the Country
The FAST Fund has successfully supported students facing basic needs insecurity on 45 campuses across 22 states in the United States. We are proud to collaborate with dedicated site leaders from 28 higher education institutions who administer the FAST Fund program on their campuses.
Over 90% Persistence Rate
During the pandemic, Believe in Students partnered with West Texas colleges to support students facing basic needs challenges. Odessa College, one of our valued partners, awarded $308,750 through our program from October 2020 to May 2022. This support resulted in over 140 graduates and an additional 92-97% of students persisting into the next semester over the project’s two-year span.
TOTAL DIRECT EMERGENCY AID TO STUDENTS SINCE INCEPTION
%
PERSISTENCE RATE FOR AID RECIPIENTS
STUDENTS SERVED BY THE FAST FUND SINCE INCEPTION
Reports
Faculty and Students Together
The Impact and Promise of Engaging Faculty to Support Student Basic Needs
Treating Emergencies Like Emergencies
Lessons From King County Community Colleges
Latest from the Blog
The #RealCollege Blog is presented by Believe in Students, as a space for students, presidents, educators, and more to lend their voices. This is part of our efforts to uplift student voices and empower them to lead change.
Advancing the #RealCollege Movement
I arrived at Believe in Students in April 2020, just as the pandemic was rocking the world and changing college campuses, in some ways permanently. My job when I arrived was to figure out how to utilize incredibly generous philanthropic support to provide emergency...
Protected: Real College Curriculum – Course One – Final Version
Welcome to Course One!Course One, The Students We Have, examines the current landscape of basic needs insecurity in higher education. Through five chapters, the course challenges traditional assumptions about today’s college students and provides a deeper...
What it Means to Appreciate Teachers
Like many people I know, I spent many hours as a child “playing school” in my basement. Occasionally I had to be the student while my younger sister bossed me around, but mostly, I was the teacher. Looking back, there were a shocking number of unruly imaginary...
Interest Form
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A Special Thanks to Our Partners
