75. Offer free, safe, and reliable transportation support services.
Here’s what the federal government can do:
- The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Transportation should partner to:
- Collect, conduct, and disseminate research on access to free and low-cost college and university transportation services.
- Collect, conduct, and disseminate research on the impact of free college and university transportation services on student outcomes, particularly for students with lower incomes.
- Issue guidance for higher education institutions on how to conduct a transportation audit, assess campus community needs, and utilize best practices for institutional transportation services.
Here’s what state government can do:
- State legislatures should require state transportation agencies to partner with higher education institutions to conduct a transportation audit to assess the needs of their campus community.
- State legislatures should provide funding for transportation to support postsecondary students (including both transportation services that are managed with institutions of higher education and public transportation).
Here’s what institutional leaders can do:
- Higher education institutions should conduct a transportation audit to assess the needs of their campus community.
- Higher education institutions should offer free public transportation, passes, or gas cards for students to safely and reliably get across the institution, home, and their community.
- Higher education institutions should offer free parking across campus.
- Higher education institutions should allow the use of emergency funding to cover vehicle repairs for students.
- Higher education institutions should ensure that information about transportation support services is shared in recruitment materials, catalogs, student handbooks, and on publicly available websites.
Colleges and universities should commit to careful assessments and create responsive policies to meet the transportation needs of their student community.
Access to reliable transportation is essential for student success, with transportation accounting for 20 percent of the cost of attending college and presenting barriers to class attendance. [i] In 2022, more than 25 percent of college students reported missing class due to lack of reliable transportation to campus. [ii] For various reasons, students who attend community college or public higher education institutions are more likely to stay closest to home. [iii] College students who are working full-time, caregiving, and have important family/community ties may find it undesirable to attend college far from home. [iv] Working college students spend on average 28 minutes, five days a week traveling between home and work. [v] Students who use public transit also experience additional issues, such as the timing and frequency of schedules and inconvenient routes. [vi]
Distance between permanent home address and college, by sector
Students attending community colleges and public institutions stay closest to home
| Mean distance | Median distance | Percent within 25 miles | Percent within 50 miles | |
| Community college | 54 miles | 10 miles | 79 percent | 89 percent |
| Public bachelor’s/master’s | 82 miles | 13 miles | 67 percent | 79 percent |
| Private non-profit bachelor’s/master’s | 392 miles | 75 miles | 35 percent | 45 percent |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2020 Undergraduate Students (NPSAS:UG).
[i] “Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2021”, College Board. https://research.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/trends-college-pricing-student-aid-2021.pdf.
[ii] Fletcher, Carla; Cornett, Allyson; Webster, Jeff; & Ashton, Bryan. “Student Financial Wellness Survey Fall 2022 Semester Results,” May 2023. https://www.trelliscompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SFWS-Aggregate-Report_FALL-2022.pdf.
[iii] National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2020 Undergraduate Students (NPSAS:UG). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/powerstats/157-national-postsecondary-student-aid-study-2020-undergraduate-students/averages-medians-percents.
[iv] See for example Hillman, Nicholas. “Geography of College Opportunity: The Case of Education Deserts,” American Educational Research Journal, July 9, 2016. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831216653204?journalCode=aera.
[v] Rosenboom, Victoria; & Kristin Blagg. “Who Lives Off Campus?” The Urban Institute. October 2017. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/94016/who-lives-off-campus.pdf.
[vi] Price, Derek; Curtis, Drew. “Overcoming transportation barriers to improve post-secondary student success,” Praxis, 2018.