As a college student, I didn’t think of campus life and food insecurity as going hand in hand. But this changed when I was in my first semester of graduate school, I attended a dinner party at the home of another student. It was a beautiful and lively dinner party where everyone contributed something. As students of food, we went around the table to say where we had sourced the meal.
College Students Face Food Insecurity
On a table brimming with dishes, one might not expect to hear that much of the meal was free. The bread and citrus had come from the local food bank, some crackers and cheese were destined to be discarded from someone’s workplace. As we went around the table I marveled at the ingenuity of my peers. Lastly, as the main dish was presented, our host declared: “and the scallops are stolen.”
I was completely taken aback. Stolen? Why would they be stolen? How does one get stolen scallops? I had not faced food insecurity thus far in my life. I was at a loss for what it looked like or how different people coped with the prevalent issue. Further, I had not assumed that my peers would be facing food insecurity. It didn’t cross my mind that other students on my campus, especially undergraduates, might be food insecure.
Yet, as I read, researched, and stressed my way through my first year of grad school, the topic continued to emerge. College students face specific challenges when it comes to acquiring healthy balanced meals or even just enough food to fill their stomachs.
What is Food Insecurity?
Food insecurity is an issue many Americans face. It means they do not have consistent access to healthy, safe, and culturally appropriate foods to meet nutritional needs due to lack of money and other resources.
While the percentage of households in the United States facing food insecurity sits around 12.8%, the percentage of college students facing food insecurity is much higher. The United States Government Accountability Office has confirmed that food insecurity among college students is around 30%.
Many universities report student populations with up to 40% facing some form of food insecurity. While it is understood that most college students make little money for themselves and are living on a budget, most people assume college students’ access to food to be handled by their university. This allows many students to fall through the gaps of acquiring sufficient nutrient dense food, which leads to lower academic performance and risk of diet related health issues.
No Way to Measure Food Insecurity
The United States government has yet to determine a reliable way to measure food insecurity among college students. The Food Security Survey Model (FSSM) is designed to measure household food security. This can make some questions confusing for college students who are transient in their living situation, not in a “household.”
Many universities have taken measures to mitigate food insecurity on their campuses. The methods are as varied as the challenges students face with different levels of success. I took a look at what universities around the country are doing to alleviate food insecurity on their campuses.
Just getting a program off the ground is the first step to addressing this issue. As universities have developed programs and implemented them on campus, many also utilize surveys, focus groups, and graduation data to determine whether their efforts are making a difference.
Why Are College Students Food Insecure?
An article published by the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) cites five reasons that college students are food insecure. In total, the authors say these factors contribute to the “new economics of college.” The five reasons are:
There’s a Change in Student Populations at the University Level
College was once only for the elites. But now, more low income people have the opportunity to attend college due to federal student loans. While this is on the whole a good thing, it means more people from food-insecure backgrounds are now in an environment where they often have little support.
College is Becoming a Lot More Expensive
Between 1989 and 2016, the price of a 4-year degree has doubled. Since 1980, the average cost for a 4-year college degree has increased 168%. This is according to a report from Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
The Pell Grant Program Has Gotten Weaker
Pell Grants are a federal subsidy for low income college students. However, as the number of low income students increased, the amount of Pell Grant money available has actually gone down. They now cover less than a fourth of a full year of college tuition, and that’s not even accounting for living expenses.
It is Now Harder to Pay for College by Working
As the value of minimum wage has gone down, it’s gotten harder for anyone to cover tuition just by working. No one can cover a five or six-figure tuition with a part time job. If you do have to work to afford school, you have to work nearly full-time.
Colleges Have Less Federal Money to Go Around
The amount of state funding available for education has decreased dramatically. This means that there’s less money available from universities to help students in financial need.
What Can Colleges Do to Fight Food Insecurity?
With these five factors in mind, there are things college students can do to combat food insecurity. One option potentially available to students to alleviate food insecurity is the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). This is the United States’ largest food benefit program. Some students do qualify for this benefit. Some students qualify based on income or immigration status. However, many are ineligible because they do not meet other criteria like meeting a 20 hour per week work requirement. Even when students are eligible, the daunting application process can be a deterrent.
Many universities have at least one dedicated faculty member to help walk students through the SNAP application process. However, this, along with programs that direct students to local food pantries, does little to address students’ needs if they do not have transportation off-campus.
State Funding for Colleges to Fight Food Insecurity
Universities all over the country have implemented various strategies to alleviate food insecurity on campus. The most popular approach is a campus food pantry with shelf-stable items that students can access for free. Other popular methods include donating unused meals from student meal plans to other students. Some places also create campus gardens, meal vouchers, emergency assistance funds, and scholarships.
In recognition of the difficulties university students face, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California, New Jersey, Washington, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Illinois have passed hunger-free campus initiatives.
These typically include a state-funded grant program. This money can be used to implement or build programs that other institutions have already developed. Or, colleges can use it to develop new methods of addressing food insecurity on college campuses.
Chatham University’s Strategy
One recipient of the PA Hunger-Free Campus grant for the 2023-2024 fiscal year is Chatham University, which has three campuses in the Pittsburgh area, and the grant money has been used to create or expand services already available at food pantries known as Essential Needs Pantries (ENP) for student use. The aim of Chatham’s ENPs is to stock shelf-stable items. The ENPs also offer students access to fresh produce and healthy frozen meals with the purchase of refrigerators and freezers.
Chatham’s Eden Hall campus boasts a productive student-led farm where fresh produce can be sourced. Some of this produce will be used in the Eden Hall teaching kitchen to create frozen meals that can be stored in the ENP freezers and be available for students to reheat in a dorm or apartment. This program is led by students who grow the produce, develop the recipes, and make meals for their fellow students. Chatham is also working to develop a program to coordinate transportation for students to get to a grocery store off campus. This is in recognition of the fact that for some students, the barrier to healthy foods is not money, but access to transportation.
While not a recipient of a Hunger-Free Campus grant, Montgomery County Community College, also in Pennsylvania, has a unique approach to reducing food waste and food insecurity. AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow Jennifer Fanega began working as a Food Sustainability Fellow at MCC during fall of 2023 to create a Food Recovery Program.
Fanega has created a program where she re-uses food scraps or food that would be wasted from culinary classes. With this food, she creates meals for the student food pantry. Most of the meals Fanega creates are vegan, so they are accessible to as many students as possible. She focuses on creating healthy meals with the scraps she receives. Thus far, the food recovery program has donated 937 meals to the student food pantry.
Missouri Southern State University’s Strategy
After realizing the prevalence of food insecurity among their students, professors at Missouri Southern State University launched a food pantry. They called it the Lion Co-op. Their co-op doesn’t only provide meals. It also has made an effort to create experiential learning with classes, internships, and research.
In doing this research, they came across an initiative from Temple University where students were provided money for groceries. Professors of the MSSU Lion Co-op then developed a new program: students can now receive a scholarship in the form of tokens which can be used at a local farmers market.
This program targets students in the later years of their college career. The thinking was that if they alleviate some of their food insecurity, it can then help them to graduate. As these students are a little older than their freshman and sophomore status peers, they may have more experience with grocery shopping and preparing food on their own. The program has only been available to students for two years, so it is difficult to judge success thus far, but data shows a clear increase in token use as the program has progressed.
How Can We Help?
While it can be difficult and time-consuming for universities to develop these programs and determine their success rate, it is an important step in working to alleviate food insecurity on college campuses. Hopefully as institutions continue to collect data on their methods, they can be refined to address the needs of their students.
While these programs are important, they often serve as a band-aid to more systemic issues. Efforts to truly alleviate food insecurity on college campuses would focus the five factors that contribute to the “new economics of college.” If colleges were better suited to accommodate the needs of low income students, it would help every student thrive.
Story by Kirsten Chervenak
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