About NCCSen
The National Coalition for College Student Essential Needs (NCCSEN) is a coalition of nearly 200 organizations representing advocates, researchers, institutions of higher education, associations, students, direct service providers, and more.
Our Story
Created in 2022 by the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs at Temple University, the coalition serves as the primary forum to collaborate on federal and state policy issues related to student access to public and tax benefits, the need for emergency financial assistance, and policies to address the full cost of higher education, especially non-tuition burdens that often cause students to drop out or take on unmanageable student loan debt.
The coalition provides regular policy updates, recommendations & coalition letters, and guidance across a range of areas, including student food insecurity and hunger, access to financial aid, and federal and state implementation of public benefit and tax programs.
NCCSEN has expanded to include several subcommittees designed to expand the movement to address students’ essential needs and well-being. NCCSEN members meet regularly across a number of areas, including:
Policy & Advocacy
Research, Evaluation & Knowledge Sharing
Narrative Change & Strategy
Student outreach & Engagement
Throughout the next year, NCCSEN will continue to build tools for policymakers, movement partners, students, and institutional leaders and others with a stake in addressing student basic needs, and continue to grow the movement toward a system in which all students have the financial and other basic resources to access and persist through higher education. Key areas for the coalition in the coming years will include igniting and engaging student movements on campus, expanding the research and data on what works to address student food, housing, and other forms of basic needs insecurity, and building a communication and narrative strategy designed to inspire action at the federal, state, and institutional level.