Caregiving students are facing heightened housing insecurity, according to a New America report highlighting affordability gaps and limited awareness of institutional aid. The findings point to a persistence problem for student success teams: supports may exist, but students—particularly those balancing caregiving roles—may not know how to access them or may be unable to stabilize enough to stay enrolled. In parallel, a separate analysis finds higher rates of food insecurity among working and caregiving students and links the condition to lower persistence. Together, these reports frame a multidimensional “basic needs” challenge: housing instability and food insecurity interact with attendance, course completion, and institutional retention outcomes. For higher education leaders, the immediate takeaway is operational—financial aid offices and student solutions teams need clearer pathways, faster verification processes, and proactive communication to reduce enrollment disruptions for students most exposed to instability.