vision

To increase student enrichment and academic success by disrupting food and housing insecurity

mission

To alleviate the financial barrier of basic necessities for Virginia college students
​by providing food and housing support and resources

founder

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Greetings! I am Quayle Agurs, the founder of Secure the Student. I am a Hampton University graduate who currently works at Virginia Commonwealth University. It is my hope that by providing students with basic life necessities such as food and shelter, Secure the Student will increase college student success both inside and outside of the classroom. While completing my master’s degree in Higher Education, I learned that tens of thousands (possibly millions) of college students experience a lack of equity and accessibility on their campuses due to a lack of food and shelter resources. Unfortunately, this results in academic decline and/or dropping out of school because of the lack of basic survival needs. Secure the Student will challenge these disparities by providing services such as pop-up food and toiletry pantries on college campuses, and grocery and housing assistance to students. Join us on this journey to disrupt student inequality and poverty. All donations to the organization are 100% tax deductible and one-step closer to college students feeling, secure. Thank you for your support towards this under discussed cause.
​- Quayle Agurs, M.Ed.

THE FACTS

  • The Government Accountability Office Reports that millions of college student are very likely struggling with food insecurity (Nadworny & Lombardo, 2019) 
  • A survey completed by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice on nearly 86,000 students said that 60% of two-year school students and 48% of four-year students experienced housing insecurity, such as paying rent ( The Courier, 2020)
  • Surveys by colleges, higher-education systems, and advocacy groups have found rates of food insecurity at 14% to 60% (Field, 2017)
  • Multiple studies report a fifth to as high as two-thirds of American college students experience some level of food insecurity (Gupton, Trost, & Collins, 2018)
  • According to financial aid applications, more than 68,000 students claim to be homeless (Cohen, 2019)