For many college students, the biggest threat to staying enrolled is not academic difficulty. It is whether they have enough food, stable housing, reliable transportation, or access to other essentials that make it possible to keep showing up.
TimelyCare is expanding its Basic Needs service line in response, rolling out two new offerings, Basic Needs Navigate and Basic Needs Connect, to help institutions deliver more coordinated support for students facing barriers that can disrupt their education.
The move comes as campuses face rising demand for basic-needs support, often without the staffing or infrastructure to consistently manage it. Many institutions already offer resources such as food pantries and emergency aid, but students can still struggle to navigate disconnected systems, follow through on referrals, or stay engaged long enough to get help. Colleges, meanwhile, may lack clear visibility into where those processes break down.
Data from the Hope Center Student Basic Needs Survey underscores the scale of the issue. The report found that 59% of college students experienced at least one form of basic needs insecurity. Among students who stopped attending or considered leaving, 79% said insecurity about basic needs contributed to that decision.
TimelyCare said its expanded model is designed to help colleges close the gap between identifying need and delivering support. The company says the new offerings are meant to work alongside existing campus systems rather than replace them, with a focus on improving coordination, follow-through, and consistency.
Basic Needs Navigate is the more comprehensive of the two models, intended for colleges that want support across multiple steps and touchpoints, particularly for students with more complex or ongoing needs. Basic Needs Connect is positioned as a more structured entry point, focused on centralized intake, follow-up, and connecting students to curated resources.
“Colleges and universities need more than referral models to meet the level of student need they’re seeing today,” said Luke Hejl, CEO and co-founder of TimelyCare. “By expanding our Basic Needs service line, we’re giving institutions a more scalable way to help students move from need to support with stronger follow-through, better coordination, and a clearer connection to retention and student success.”
The expansion reflects a broader shift in how colleges are approaching student support, as basic needs become more closely tied to well-being, persistence, and academic outcomes. For institutions trying to meet growing demand without adding staff, more structured intake, clearer workflows, and better visibility into support activity may offer a way to extend capacity while reducing gaps in follow-through.
With the launch of Navigate and Connect, TimelyCare is positioning basic-needs support less as a standalone service and more as part of a broader retention strategy built around helping students find and access resources.
