The American Association of Community Colleges is among more than 90 groups — including six other community college organizations — that are asking congressional appropriators to increase funding for the Basic Needs Grant program.
The groups — with include the Association of Community College Trustees, Bunker Hill Community College, Central Lakes College, Linn-Benton Community College, Luzerne County Community College and the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges — are asking leaders of the education appropriations subcommittees to increase appropriations for the Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program from $10 million — where its been for several years–to $45 million for fiscal year (FY) 2027.
Colleges apply the grants toward food assistance, housing, transportation, child care, technology and other services to help underserved students stay in college, succeed and enter the workforce. Institutions have used the grants to establish or expand basic needs centers on campus, enhance efforts to connect students with federal, state and institutional benefits, and strengthen institution and community partnerships that provide services to students in need, according to the March 24 letter to appropriations subcommittee leaders.
“No other federal program supports these comprehensive basic needs interventions, and state and institutional funding cannot meet students’ needs or scale up effective approaches,” the groups said in the letter.
Redirected funds
In November, the U.S. Education Department (ED) announced a restructuring of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), which houses the Basic Needs program. ED pooled the $10 million appropriated in FY 25 to the Basic Needs program and funding from six other programs that support student success into a revamped FIPSE program that redirected $169 million toward the Trump administration’s priorities in short-term programs, accreditation, artificial intelligence and civil discourse on college campuses.
Basic Needs grants have helped campuses in at least 22 states create and maintain systemic, campus-based solutions to address student basic needs insecurity since it was created in 2021, according to the Hope Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. But demand has exceeded program resources, the center said, noting that in FY 23, only 13% of eligible Basic Needs grant applicants received funding.
In 2024, eight of the 11 new awardees under the program were community colleges, receiving grants ranging from $749,000 to $900,000, according to a review of ED information. Under the administration’s revamped FIPSE effort, 18 community colleges were among the 72 colleges, universities, nonprofits and other organizations that earlier this year received FY 25 funding. Most of the two-year colleges received grants for AI and short-term programs, which are focused on aligning with the new Workforce Pell program that is rolling out in July.
Meanwhile, colleges are awaiting word on the opening of FY 26 competition for the grants.
The Trump administration is expected to release its FY 27 budget request next week, with congressional hearings following over the next few months before committees roll out their own funding proposals.
