The Impact of Targeted Outreach on Washington College Students’ Use of Public Benefits and Supports

• In Event: The Potential of Public Benefit Programs to Address College Student Basic Needs and Support Academic Success

Abstract

In 2024, a statewide survey found that basic needs insecurity affected 52% of Washington college and university students, an increase of 6% from a 2022 survey. Half of those students were not accessing all available public benefits and campus basic needs resources, with the leading challenges being perceived ineligibility for support and a lack of awareness of resources and how to access them. Students from different sectors, regions, genders, ethnicities, and demographics used basic needs support resources at significantly different rates, such that the students who most need help are the least likely to get it.

The Washington Legislature is invested in helping students get the help they need through the Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness Program and the Postsecondary Basic Needs Act, which include funds for resource navigators, case managers, and related help. The Washington Student Achievement Council supports that effort with several learning communities that engage practitioners in modernizing their practices to maximize student impact. This paper describes lessons learned from one of those communities and reports on a new randomized controlled trial testing the efficacy of targeted outreach to community college students.

During the 2024-2025 academic year, 15 Washington colleges and universities engaged in a Postsecondary Benefits Promotion Pilot to use strategies for targeted outreach and support to students who are likely eligible for benefits. Through a new data-sharing agreement, institutions received information from the WA Department of Social and Health Services about state need-based grant recipients who were not using public benefits and leveraged that information to target outreach to those individuals.  This was a relatively new activity for most institutions, so the Pilot aimed to understand how practitioners attempted this work and the factors correlated with success in engaging students in completing public benefits applications and accessing services.  Practitioners fielded three outreach campaigns, completed surveys, and participated in focus groups to share their experiences. This paper describes lessons learned about the outreach's mode, messaging, and timing, the varying levels of corresponding students’ responses, and how institutions handled the increased demand for support.  The results have important implications for strengthening program implementation and, in turn, maximizing efficacy.

Following that Pilot, in the fall of 2025, Education Northwest is launching a randomized controlled trial with two Washington community colleges to quantify the impact of targeted outreach on students’ use of public benefits and campus basic needs supports and estimate corresponding changes in their academic outcomes. That research builds on several prior studies in Texas, California, and Washington, which led to mixed results, and takes place in a more mature context– the use of public benefits as a college success strategy is now a shared institutional priority supported by state investment, and implementation is more potent than it was in prior studies taking place before and during the pandemic. This paper will report on the early implementation and design of that National Science Foundation study and what policymakers can expect to learn from it.

Author

• Sara Goldrick-Rab, Education Northwest
  Presenting Author