Giving Compass' Take:

• Rebecca Koenig at EdSurge talks about Edquity, an app that aims to help college students who are facing poverty and hunger. 

• How can schools tailor programs to fit the specific needs of their students? How are colleges addressing the issues of housing and hunger for students who can’t afford those amenities? 

• Here's another report on how millions of college students are not having enough to eat. 

HOUSTON — Systemic solutions are needed to meet students’ basic human needs, Sara Goldrick-Rab advised approximately 500 college professors and administrators assembled at the fourth annual #RealCollege conference, held last weekend at a campus of Houston Community College.

Think beyond ad hoc food pantries and consider structured food scholarships, she said. Use data to design campus programs, then measure the results to assess what’s actually working. And as the presidential election looms, make sure students are registered to vote.

Goldrick-Rab—an activist and professor at Temple University who one enthusiastic speaker said should be a future U.S. secretary of education—recently threw her endorsement behind what she hopes is one such solution: an app that quickly dispenses college emergency aid funds to students. Called Edquity, the company was a conference sponsor and is launching in October for students enrolled at its first client institution, the Dallas County Community College District.

Read the full article about helping college students face hunger and poverty by Rebecca Koenig at EdSurge.