An estimated 1.8 million college students qualify for public benefits, but never receive them. Research shows that 77% of financially insecure students don't believe they qualify, and 53% don't know how to apply. For students already navigating the pressures of tuition, housing, and work, food insecurity alone is associated with a 43% reduction in the likelihood of graduating.

The Student Basic Needs Coalition (SBNC) was founded to address students' immediate needs and work towards long-term systemic change. 

Through Navvy, its comprehensive navigation platform, SBNC connects colleges and universities with the tools to proactively identify SNAP and Medicaid-eligible students, guide them through personalized eligibility screening, and support them through the full application process within a single, scalable system. The platform is paired with peer navigator programs — students with lived experience who are trained to conduct outreach, answer questions, and normalize access to benefits — alongside direct technical assistance for campus teams in financial aid, student affairs, and basic needs offices. 

The demand is already clear. Since January 2025, nearly 48,000 students have used Navvy, with students from more than 500 institutions engaging organically. 

With Axim's support, SBNC is focused on Navvy’s next phase: bringing engineering fully in-house to support tens of thousands more students to complete benefits applications, while building a durable data infrastructure that advances learning across the field. By building standardized, privacy-protective dashboards, campus leaders, researchers, and policymakers will get clear insight into where students encounter friction and what design choices improve application completion and approval rates. The goal is not only to scale in volume, but to generate shared knowledge that helps the entire field move from anecdote to evidence.

SBNC's long-term vision is a higher education ecosystem in which access to SNAP and Medicaid benefits is normalized, proactive, and clearly tied to student persistence and credential attainment — and in which every institution, regardless of resources, has what it needs to make that a reality. With its combination of proven technology, a deeply human peer model, and a commitment to generating field-wide knowledge, SBNC is uniquely positioned to lead that shift.