Believe in Students, a national nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, is providing faculty, staff and managers with actionable strategies to address college students’ basic needs.
“How the new majority of students attends and experiences higher education is poorly understood by the American public and constantly given short shrift by mainstream media,” said Goldrick-Rab. “Too many people characterize undergraduates and college life based on their own personal experiences and/or TV and movie depictions.”
To help mitigate this, Believe in Students developed The #RealCollege Curriculum masterclass, a four-course curriculum sponsored by the ECMC Foundation, Gates Foundation, Imaginable Futures, and Michelson 20MM.
“Recognizing that students face immediate challenges—such as food insecurity, mental health concerns, and financial instability, this initiative focuses on the vital connection between data and the personal stories behind it, enabling educators to engage with students on a deeper level,” said Dr. Pilar Huffman, director of professional development at Compton College and Believe in Students Curriculum Advisory Board Member.
The curriculum’s first course, “The Students We Have,” is currently available for free to colleges throughout the nation. In 2025, three additional courses, including one focused on supporting parenting students, will be added. Interested participants can expect narrative video content, data-informed best practices, reflection activities and self-assessments.
“It’s all structured around best practices for adult learners and [is] consumable in 5–10-minute increments," said Traci Kirtley, executive director at Believe in Students. “Leaders that want to make the course available institution-wide also have the option of offering it within their own learning management systems.”
On Monday, October 28, Believe in Students is hosting a webinar at 2 p.m. EST to share insights on student success and rising college costs, expressing the urgency of the curriculum.
“The most recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse shows that more than 40 million students in the U.S. have earned some college credit but no degree,” said Dr. Virginia Fraire, a #RealCollege Curriculum Advisory Board Member. “College tuition, fees, and related expenses have outpaced inflation and wage earnings [and] there is a persistent decline in the public’s confidence of higher education according to a Gallup Poll.”
Webinar attendees will hear from curriculum creators Goldrick-Rab and Dr. Jesse Stommel, as well as course instructors Dr. Keith Curry, President of Compton College and Christina Hasaan, a recent college graduate whose subject matter expertise is grounded in her lived experience as a parenting student. Attendees will also have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the curriculum content and sign up for access to the inaugural course.
Believe in Students is urging those who work in and surrounding higher education to address the critical need now as colleges are enrolling an increasingly first-generation and low-income student population.
“These students are disproportionately affected by basic needs insecurity, making it essential for institutions to address these challenges to improve retention, academic performance, and post-graduation success,” said Fraire.
Goldrick-Rab hopes The #RealCollege Curriculum pushes higher education stakeholders to imagine beyond training specific staff members and instead focus on building caring campuses.
“Over the last decade there’s been terrific work done to put basic needs and holistic student supports on the map, such that now most colleges and universities recognize the issue, have a food pantry, and some even have basic needs navigators and centers,” said Goldrick-Rab. “But that progress— and even state legislation like Hunger-Free campus bills— will fall short if the frontline people who directly work with students aren’t equipped with the information and strategies needed to help students feel comfortable and capable of connecting with support programs."