Higher education is undergoing a profound transformation, with adult learners representing a growing and influential segment of the student population. Balancing employment, family responsibilities, and academic commitments, these students encounter unique challenges that significantly impact their educational trajectories. Among the most pressing barriers to success is basic needs insecurity, which encompasses food and housing instability, childcare access, physical and mental health access, transportation and technology needs, alongside financial insecurity. Despite the existence of numerous, public, state, and institutional resources to support these needs, awareness and utilization remain strikingly low. Variability in institutional and state-level approaches further exacerbates disparities in access. Addressing basic needs insecurity requires a systemic response—one that ensures equitable access to essential services and promotes student success.

Adult Learners as Key to Attainment Goals and Workforce Needs

The population of adults in the United States who have completed some college but lack a credential is approaching 40 million and continues to grow. This number is eclipsed by the number of adults—approximately twice as many—whose highest level of education is a high school diploma or less. With more than 100 million adults in the working-aged population lacking a credential and an economy increasingly requiring upskilling or reskilling, adult learner engagement has become a critical lever for both workforce development and broader educational attainment goals. Engaging with this traditionally underserved population of learners is also an effective strategy to mitigate the impending demographic cliff that threatens traditional postsecondary enrollment.

Adults often navigate a nonlinear path towards credential attainment. Half of all adult learners step away from their education at some point, often due to basic needs challenges—including work and family obligations, physical and mental health issues, and money or resource constraints. In addition to financial constraints, many adults who have never enrolled in a postsecondary credential or degree program lack confidence in navigating the academic or administrative requirements of higher education. They are also unsure who, within this complicated bureaucracy, can help them access the support they need. To effectively attract, retain, and graduate adults who have either not attended or not completed a credential, it is imperative that postsecondary institutions understand the unique basic needs challenges of these learners, including how basic needs insecurity should be addressed and supported throughout the entire student lifecycle.

Adult Learner Challenges with Basic Needs

Basic needs insecurity is a tangible crisis affecting adult learners nationwide. Many students are one unexpected financial setback away from discontinuing their studies. Without meaningful intervention, these barriers will continue to impede adult learners’ ability to persist and complete their degrees. Financial stress, food and housing instability, and competing life responsibilities contribute to lower academic performance, decreased class attendance, and higher dropout rates. These challenges disproportionately affect adult students who may be first-generation, students of color, single parents, students with disabilities, veterans, or justice-impacted, many of whom lack familial or financial safety nets, as captured by The Hope Center’s Student Basic Needs Survey.

While colleges and universities have implemented various programs to support students’ basic needs, many adult learners do not take advantage of them due to critical barriers. The Student Financial Wellness Survey from Trellis Strategies found that limited awareness is a major issue—many students simply do not know these services exist. The accessibility of these services is often compromised by inconvenient hours, in-person application requirements, and complex procedures that disproportionately burden non-traditional students. Stigma also plays a role, as seeking assistance is often seen as a personal failure rather than a necessary step toward stability. Even when students do seek help, they encounter bureaucratic hurdles: lengthy applications, restrictive eligibility requirements, and confusing processes that make accessing aid overwhelming. Furthermore, many institutional policies and services are designed with traditional students in mind, failing to address the unique circumstances of adult learners.

Compounding these issues is a widespread lack of support for maneuvering the college and support ecosystem through college fluency. Navigating the complexities of financial aid, public benefits, and campus support services can be daunting, particularly for students unfamiliar with institutional systems. Our research underscores the urgent need for colleges to provide clear, accessible, and proactive guidance to help students understand and utilize available resources. Without institutional support in navigating these systems, many students may remain without aid—not because they are ineligible, but because they do not know how to access it.

Federal, State, and Institutional Resources for Adult Learners

A systems approach is essential to addressing the widespread challenges of basic needs insecurity among adult learners. Rather than relying on fragmented resources that require students to navigate multiple and disconnected services, institutions can create holistic support systems that streamline essential resources like food and housing assistance (both state and federal support), childcare support, transportation and technology subsidies, and access to physical and mental healthcare. Many adult learners may qualify for public benefits, such as SNAP, TANF, WIC, Medicaid, and subsidized child care, yet the complexities of eligibility and application processes may deter them from accessing and utilizing these resources. In January 2022, the Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter confirming the ability of institutions to leverage FAFSA data to flag students who may be eligible for existing public benefits, including SNAP, the Affordable Connectivity Program, and ACA insurance. Institutions can play a critical role in bridging the use and understanding gaps that exist and can improve access by proactively connecting students to existing resources, such as those outlined above, and embedding these connections into existing student support services on campus.

In addition to supporting adults in securing their basic needs, institutions and state systems have an opportunity to make earning a credential more affordable for this population through their approaches and policies related to student financial aid and assistance. Whether state systems uncouple state and federal financial aid requirements or institutions use existing processes for reconsidering federal aid awarding—particularly in instances of students who are ineligible for Title IV funds due to falling short of satisfactory academic progress benchmarks—flexibility to support adult students’ ability to use financial aid exists and should be leveraged to its full potential. Alongside the strategic use of institutional aid, including resources like retention grants, institutions should consider how their academic structures either support or detract from an adult learner’s ability to be successful. Providing options for course delivery and scheduling, academic support, and student services that are responsive to the needs of adults and available when adults are available are key to connecting the dots of academic success, wellbeing, and basic needs security.

To meet the demand for comprehensive solutions for supporting adult learners, Ithaka S+R is seeking to develop actionable research and recommendations for institutions in their efforts to support students and the workforce alike. As we continue, we hope to address several key questions:

  1. Impact of policy: How do institutional policies and state-level funding impact adult learners’ access to basic needs resources such as housing, food assistance, childcare, and healthcare?
  2. Barriers and accessibility: What barriers prevent adult learners from accessing existing institutional and public benefits, and how can institutions streamline these processes to improve utilization?
  3. Partnerships for success: How can partnerships between colleges, employers, and community-based organizations be leveraged to provide wraparound support for adult learners, reducing financial and administrative burdens?
  4. Workforce: What role can employers play in supporting adult learners with basic needs while they pursue postsecondary credentials?
  5. Holistic support: How do family and work responsibilities, including childcare, flexible academic structures, and transportation challenges, impact adult learners’ academic persistence and completion rates?

If you are interested in collaborating with Ithaka S+R to support adult learners’ access to postsecondary education and basic needs security, please reach out to Melissa Blankstein, researcher, at melissa.blankstein@ithaka.org or Brittany Pearce, senior program manager, at brittany.pearce@ithaka.org.