Higher Education Survey: Increasing College Student Economic Success through Public Benefits
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), established in 1969, is a nonpartisan anti-poverty organization that conducts research and advocacy on policies that transform systems and promote economic mobility for people of color and those who have low incomes.
With the generous support of the Lumina Foundation, CLASP will provide technical assistance to selected states to support development of policies and practices that increase college student access to public benefits. The purpose of this survey is to help CLASP provide technical assistance by building a shared understanding of your state’s current climate and goals as well as potential areas of opportunity.
Survey Description and Completion
To be considered for technical assistance, both the human services and higher education agencies must complete and submit their respective surveys by February 28. Higher education agencies should send this human services agency survey link to their human service agencies no later than February 1 to allow time for completion.
The persons best equipped to complete the survey should be interested in expanding community college student access to public benefits, have a general understanding of current policies and practices, and have a sense of key stakeholders' interest in increasing public benefits for college students. You may wish to ask multiple individuals to complete different sections of the survey to ensure you provide enough information to generate a productive initial conversation with CLASP. Simply send a survey link to new respondents with a description of the questions you want them to complete.
The survey focuses on the following sections as they relate to college student access to public benefits:
1. Environmental Scan
2. Improvements to Postsecondary Education Policy, Funding and Practice
3. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
4. SNAP Employment & Training
5. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
6. Child Care Assistance
7. Free or Low-Cost Health Insurance
8. Housing Assistance
CLASP understands that survey respondents may not know answers to all questions or be interested in state policy or practice strategies in all sections. Respondents may selectively complete the tool, although we encourage completion of at least the environmental scan and the improvements to postsecondary education policy, funding and practice section. If your state administers public benefits at the local level, you may describe variation between counties in the notes.
You may save the survey by clicking on "Next" and return to it later as long as you leave it open in your browser. To submit, click on "Done" at the end or "Exit" on the top right after clicking Next. Each survey will take approximately 60-90 minutes to complete. CLASP will not attribute any information from the environmental scan section directly to respondents and their organizations or share that information outside of CLASP and its consultants. Completing this survey does not mean that your state is committing to pursue technical assistance or specific strategies. Respondents who need assistance on survey completion may contact Lauren Walizer (lwalizer@clasp.org).
State Options Document
Please click here for a high-level document on state options to improve access to public benefits, which was developed as a companion piece to this survey. (You do not need to complete the checkboxes on that document at this time.) The document can help you clarify goals and strategies for technical assistance.
With the generous support of the Lumina Foundation, CLASP will provide technical assistance to selected states to support development of policies and practices that increase college student access to public benefits. The purpose of this survey is to help CLASP provide technical assistance by building a shared understanding of your state’s current climate and goals as well as potential areas of opportunity.
Survey Description and Completion
To be considered for technical assistance, both the human services and higher education agencies must complete and submit their respective surveys by February 28. Higher education agencies should send this human services agency survey link to their human service agencies no later than February 1 to allow time for completion.
The persons best equipped to complete the survey should be interested in expanding community college student access to public benefits, have a general understanding of current policies and practices, and have a sense of key stakeholders' interest in increasing public benefits for college students. You may wish to ask multiple individuals to complete different sections of the survey to ensure you provide enough information to generate a productive initial conversation with CLASP. Simply send a survey link to new respondents with a description of the questions you want them to complete.
The survey focuses on the following sections as they relate to college student access to public benefits:
1. Environmental Scan
2. Improvements to Postsecondary Education Policy, Funding and Practice
3. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
4. SNAP Employment & Training
5. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
6. Child Care Assistance
7. Free or Low-Cost Health Insurance
8. Housing Assistance
CLASP understands that survey respondents may not know answers to all questions or be interested in state policy or practice strategies in all sections. Respondents may selectively complete the tool, although we encourage completion of at least the environmental scan and the improvements to postsecondary education policy, funding and practice section. If your state administers public benefits at the local level, you may describe variation between counties in the notes.
You may save the survey by clicking on "Next" and return to it later as long as you leave it open in your browser. To submit, click on "Done" at the end or "Exit" on the top right after clicking Next. Each survey will take approximately 60-90 minutes to complete. CLASP will not attribute any information from the environmental scan section directly to respondents and their organizations or share that information outside of CLASP and its consultants. Completing this survey does not mean that your state is committing to pursue technical assistance or specific strategies. Respondents who need assistance on survey completion may contact Lauren Walizer (lwalizer@clasp.org).
State Options Document
Please click here for a high-level document on state options to improve access to public benefits, which was developed as a companion piece to this survey. (You do not need to complete the checkboxes on that document at this time.) The document can help you clarify goals and strategies for technical assistance.