On February 10, 2026, Ithaka S+R hosted a public information session reviewing the Request for Proposals (RFP) for Understanding Postsecondary Students’ Perspectives on Basic Needs Insecurity, a multi-year research and cohort initiative supported by ECMC Foundation. With more than 70 attendees, the session provided an overview of the project’s goals, planned activities, benefits of participation, and the application process. We received many thoughtful and practical questions from attendees, and wanted to ensure that all institutions have key information as they consider applying. The FAQ below addresses common questions about the initiative and the RFP process.

Participation, capacity, and fit

Is this project a good fit if our basic needs efforts are early-stage or is it better suited for institutions with more established basic needs infrastructure?

The project is designed to include institutions at varying stages and focuses on learning from student perspectives rather than evaluating the maturity of existing programs.

What does participation look like over time for an institution?

Participation is spread across three years:

  • Year 1: Includes project planning and onboarding to the initiative. Ithaka S+R will begin both interview and focus group recruitment and implementation.
  • Year 2: Includes wrapping up interview and focus group implementation and survey administration.
  • Year 3: Includes engagement with survey and project findings and participation in virtual communication strategy labs.

Institutional project liaisons

How flexible is participation for institutions with small or understaffed basic needs teams?

Participation is designed to be flexible and manageable. Ithaka S+R will lead the research design, IRB approval, data collection, analysis, and reporting. We ask for one to two institutional project liaisons for each participating institution, whose primary role will be to support student recruitment, survey administration, and participate in periodic check-ins throughout the project. The estimated total time commitment is approximately 40 hours across three years, allowing institutions to engage meaningfully without overextending staff capacity.

Do institutional project liaisons need to be faculty? Can they be staff and/or graduate students who work on the broader research team?

Institutional project liaisons can be faculty or staff who are able to engage with the project majority of its duration, and willing to collaborate with other departments if needed to advance project activities. A graduate student may serve as a second institutional project liaison, provided that there is also a faculty or staff member who can ensure continuity throughout the project duration.

How many people beyond the one to two institutional liaisons are typically involved on a campus?

Liaisons will likely need to collaborate their institutional research departments, as well as communications and outreach departments towards supporting interview and focus group recruitment, and survey administration. The level and type of collaboration may vary by campus depending on institutional structure.

Time commitment and subgrant

Can you clarify the expected time commitment relative to the $5,000 subgrant?

The estimated commitment is about 40 hours total over three years, and the subgrant is intended to offset staff time for the institutional project liaisons. Ithaka S+R will provide additional incentives to support student recruitment for all project activities, so the subgrant can be used specifically for staff capacity.

Is the subgrant award $5,000 total or $5,000 per year of the project?

$5,000 total for the duration of the entire project.

Are there restrictions on how the $5,000 subgrant can be used?

We are still configuring the details of our cohort agreements. The subgrant is primarily intended to offset staff time, but if other initiatives or goals with this subgrant are in mind, we encourage you to outline them in the RFP, or reach out to us to discuss. We would love to hear more.

Student involvement and recruitment

Is student participation in interviews, focus groups and the survey incentivized?

Ithaka S+R will provide incentives for all interview and focus group participants, as well as a select number of survey respondents at each participating institution.

How is this project accounting for adult learners specifically, especially those balancing work, caregiving, and part-time enrollment?

This project aims not only varied institution types, but to also engage with various types of students with different needs and life experiences. We will seek opportunities to engage specific groups of learners in this project, and can ensure their voice is represented with a diverse student advisory board.

Will the interviews, focus groups, and/or surveys be in any language other than English?

We are open to exploring options and opportunities for research materials to be provided in different languages other than English. If this is of interest for your institution, please describe it and the language(s) of interest in your proposal.

What support will Ithaka S+R provide for recruiting students for interviews, focus groups, and the survey?

Ithaka S+R will provide all recruitment language and materials, as well as conduct the interviews and focus groups. When institutions are able to provide student contact information for the interviews and focus groups, Ithaka S+R will manage outreach and scheduling directly, reducing the burden on institutions. For the survey, Ithaka S+R will work with your institution to administer it directly from your campus using unique survey links and ready-to-use distribution materials, along with ongoing support throughout the administration period.

If our institution is unable to share student contact information, what alternative recruitment approaches are acceptable?

Institution-led recruitment approaches are available and built into the project design, most notably for the survey administration. We will work with your institutional project liaison to minimize as much of the burden as possible. If you foresee this as a potential issue, please describe it in the RFP so that we can identify appropriate support from the outset.

IRB, ethics, and risk

Will IRB approval be covered by Ithaka S+R, or will institutions need to go through IRB locally?

Ithaka S+R will obtain external IRB approval through BRANY and provide all required protocols and documentation to your institution’s IRB. If an institution requires an additional local IRB review, we will support that process with approved materials.

What safeguards are in place if students disclose urgent or serious needs?

All research activities will follow IRB guidelines and include informed consent. We will work with each participating institution to identify relevant campus and community resources in advance, so appropriate information can be shared with students consistent with IRB protocols and institutional practices.

What data would our institution be expected to share?

For interviews and focus groups, we will request a small list of undergraduate student contact information to support recruitment. No academic records or financial data are requested. For the survey, contact information does not need to be shared directly with Ithaka S+R. Ithaka S+R will create unique survey links for institutions to distribute directly to students using their own communication channels, with support from Ithaka S+R.

What data will participating institutions receive back?

Institutions receive their own raw, anonymous survey data, a customized survey findings memo, and benchmarking context drawn from the broader participating cohort to help situate local results. While institution-level qualitative results are not shared, participating institutions will receive pre-released aggregate findings and have opportunities to engage directly with the project team on interpretation. The project concludes with an implementation roadmap designed to support concrete next steps.

Will any personally identifiable information (PII) be shared across institutions?

No student or institution-level PII is shared across institutions or publicly.

Selection and cohort composition

Should the RFP proposal focus on the institution where we are currently employed or the institution that is the subject of the study?

The proposal should focus on the institution that is the subject of the study—that is, the institution whose students will be participating in the project activities. Ideally, the institutional project liaison should also be employed by the same institution as the student participants.

What is your ideal mix of institutions to participate in the cohort (i.e. type, size, location, etc.)?

Diversity across the selected cohort including institution types, regions, and policy contexts is one of the selection criteria.

It sounds like the project is institution-based, is there space for a district to participate? What about online campuses?

While our project is currently designed for single institutions, we welcome any districts to reach out to the project team directly to discuss what district participation could look like. Online campuses can also apply.

Sustainability and next steps

How do you see institutions using the student-informed understanding of basic needs insecurity in practice?

Institutions can use the project findings to inform the development of a student-centered strategic plan for basic needs outreach and programming. In practice, we anticipate the findings will help shape outreach language, staff training, institutional websites, and broader communication strategies so they more closely align with students’ perspectives, experiences, and needs.

What happens after the project ends? Is there an opportunity for continued engagement?

Institutions will leave the project with evidence-based, student-informed tools and actionable findings that can be implemented on their campuses. An implementation roadmap developed at the conclusion of the project will position each institution to move directly into action.

Will there be opportunities for participating institutions to co-present or co-publish findings?

Participating institutions may be invited to participate in webinars, conference presentations, and dissemination activities alongside Ithaka S+R. We also welcome opportunities for institutions to share their own findings and experiences emerging from their participation in the initiative.

Will there be any discussion or support for future funding of initiatives connected to the findings of the research?

We hope that this initiative will spur more opportunities for funding and initiatives beyond the duration of the project, and we welcome those conversations throughout their engagement.