About
Provides guidance on how to incorporate student workers into college support service activities.
“The Benefits Access for College Completion (BACC) initiative funds innovative approaches to increase the number of students earning postsecondary credentials by connecting students to public benefits in seven community and technical colleges across the country. BACC was launched in September 2011 to help colleges develop and institutionalize scalable and sustainable organizational and funding policies and practices that connect low-income students to an array of public benefits, such as food assistance and health insurance. Each college either developed or expanded upon its own model. Providing students with these comprehensive supports increases financial stability for students and their families” (p.1).
“This brief offers practical guidance to colleges that wish to provide to students access to public benefits by incorporating student workers into their student support service activities. Student workers can effectively conduct a substantial portion of work related to accessing public benefits, including outreach, screening, application assistance, counseling, referrals, and data tracking” (p.1).
“The guidance is based on the experiences of three of the community colleges in the BACC project—Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cleveland, Ohio; LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC) in Long Island City, New York; and, Skyline College in San Bruno, California. The three community colleges utilized student workers in a variety of ways. The brief applies lessons from both their shared and unique experiences” (p.1).
(Abstractor: Author)
Major Findings and Recommendations
Selection and Recruitment of Student Workers
“The community colleges used similar methods for recruiting students that typically involved asking trusted faculty throughout the college to recommend students who are then interviewed to make sure they are the right fit for the program.
In addition, LAGCC reached out to local social work schools to attract students who needed to satisfy a social work counseling requirement. At Tri-C, before they switched to the peer financial coach model, the project manager contacted outreach coordinators, field advisors, and campus liaisons from nearby colleges to identify higher education graduate students looking for internships. Skyline staff marketed on campus to fill the student worker positions, and ultimately all of the students were direct recommendations from colleagues” (p.3).
Characteristics of Ideal Student Workers
“Based on the experiences at the three community colleges, students who are most suited for benefits access work have the following skills and characteristics:
• Representative of the diversity of the student body and can work with diverse populations.
• Good communicators, both oral and written.
• Engaging/outgoing, with friendly, welcoming, personable, and approachable personalities.
• Understanding and non-judgmental.
• Committed to respecting the confidentiality of those applying for benefits.
• Able to navigate online screening and application tools, where relevant.
In addition, students who have personally experienced applying for and receiving benefits tend to be particularly helpful because they can relate their own experiences to that of their fellow students” (p.4).
Compensating Student Workers
“Student workers can be compensated in a variety of ways,” including college credit, work-study, general college funds, public assistance, or philanthropic grants” (p.5-6).
Training and Supporting Student Workers
“A combination of orientation, on-the-job, and iterative training worked well for the three schools. Trainings should cover:
• An introduction to public benefits.
• Using technology tools.
• Working directly with students.
• Providing one-on-one service.
All three schools used outside experts, either community-based organizations or county workers, to train about public benefits. The schools found it important to strike the right balance between providing an introduction to benefits and not getting too far into the weeds and overwhelming the students” (p.6).
(Abstractor: Author)
