{"id":138001,"date":"2026-01-17T18:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/138001\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T18:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:27:09","slug":"how-basic-needs-eases-the-burden-of-rising-student-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/138001\/","title":{"rendered":"How Basic Needs eases the burden of rising student costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cost of living is steadily increasing for students at Long Beach State and beyond, as the U.S. faces an affordability crisis<\/a> with higher housing, food and personal expenses.<\/p>\n

This comes as the cost of living in Long Beach ranks 49.8% higher than the national average, according to a report by apartments.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a 2024-25 Student Expenses and Resources survey<\/a> by the California Student Aid Commission, total expenses for California college students have risen by 4% for students living with parents, 18% for students living on campus and 8% for students living off campus during the 2024-25 school year.
In addition, CSU tuition costs have increased by 6% since 2024 and will continue to increase through the end of the 2028-29 school year. This is part of the California State University Board of Trustees\u2019 payment plan<\/a> to fix budget shortfalls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alongside higher tuition, students are facing steep housing costs.\u00a0The\u00a0average rent<\/a> for a Long Beach studio apartment is $1,475 a month, while the average for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,810.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cost of living off campus is beyond higher education\u2019s control, however, said director of the Basic Needs Program<\/a>, Danielle Mu\u00f1oz.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Source: Apartments.com cost of living in Long Beach, CA. Information based on the Cost of Living Index by the Council for Community and Economic Research. Graphic by Dante Estrada | Long Beach Current<\/p>\n

Located in Peterson Hall, Room 127, Basic Needs aims to assist students with food, housing, budgeting and unexpected emergencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz said Basic Needs works in a three-tier framework by helping students one-on-one, connecting them to existing resources and advocating for broader economic change by sharing collected data and students\u2019 testimonials with elected state and federal officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of food and housing costs rise quicker than wages,\u201d Mu\u00f1oz said. \u201cSo folks are working, and they\u2019re just wondering, \u2018Why can\u2019t I make ends meet?\u2019 And I first like to tell everyone, it\u2019s not your fault. It\u2019s not anything you\u2019re doing wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Housing resources\u00a0<\/p>\n

To help students with rising housing costs, Basic Needs offers<\/a> emergency housing, grants to avoid eviction and to pay for housing costs and rapid rehousing for students who suddenly lose their homes or live in unsafe environments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students like Alexandra Martinez, 24, a second-year graduate student in the Counseling Psychology program, said there is less financial support for graduate students at CSULB than for undergraduates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that adds an extra layer of financial burdens on me, and the way that I\u2019m seeing its effects is \u2026 rent increases almost every year,\u201d Martinez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although she receives some university loans, Martinez balances her budget by managing her rising rent, food, utilities and other necessities as a student.<\/p>\n

Martinez is employed as a Graduate Student Lead at Basic Needs as part of her paid practicum internship.<\/p>\n

Since she started at CSULB in fall 2024, Martinez said Basic Needs has helped her with basic expenses like groceries and transportation, and she is happy to use her position to help other students who are struggling\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think so far, at least with the students that I\u2019ve met so far, they\u2019ve been very grateful that there is support like this on campus,\u201d Martinez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Food assistance\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz said the best place to get free food on campus is the Lauren Chalmers \u201883 Beach Pantry.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pantry is located in the Student Health Services building, Room 115-A, and is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students and their families can also get help buying groceries through CalFresh, the USDA-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in California. <\/p>\n

Students can apply through CSULB\u2019s website<\/a> and may be eligible for up to $292 per month in grocery assistance.<\/p>\n

For student parents, Mu\u00f1oz said they can also use the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program. Mu\u00f1oz said CalWORKs provides students with minor children child care, transportation, grocery, housing and mental health benefits.<\/p>\n

Budgeting help\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz said Basic Needs can help teach students how to budget their finances in person or online with members of Basic Needs.<\/p>\n

Students can use the CSULB Virtual Financial Wellness Center<\/a>, a resource with tips to improve their finances and access the Financial Literacy 101 course, which is free for life. The course offers advice on budgeting, student loans, credit and other financial decisions.<\/p>\n

Martinez said Basic Needs is impactful in helping students access important necessities.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake advantage of the resources and services that\u2019s already available to you,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cSome of the programs will only be available for you because you are a student. After you leave college [and] university life, a lot of these services are just not accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mu\u00f1oz advises students to use any free resource available to them, including Basic Needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have something for everyone, whether you\u2019re not in a crisis, but you\u2019re caught up in the crosshairs of this economic hardship we are in, and you want someone to sit with you and get power over your budget,\u201d Mu\u00f1oz said. \u201cOr you are in a crisis and you\u2019ve used all your money, [and] you don\u2019t have anything left, we can help on both ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cost of living is steadily increasing for students at Long Beach State and beyond, as the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-138001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}