This week, the Government Accountability Office issued a new report on student food insecurity, and it's grim.
- 23% of students (3.8 million) experienced food insecurity in 2020.
- the majority (2.2 million) had very low food security – skipping meals or eating less than they should because they couldn't afford food.
- 2 in 5 of the food insecure students would be eligible for SNAP benefits (the supplemental program known previously as food stamps).
- 59% of the food insecure students eligible for SNAP did not use the program.
The report doesn't explain why so few students receive the benefits they qualify for, but we can hypothesize about some of the reasons: There are student-specific eligibility requirements such as working 20 hours per week that could be a barrier for those in intensive programs and programs with clinical requirements. And as in the broader society, there is stigma around "food stamps" in a culture of rugged independence and boot straps. Poor and working-class college students also often hide their class backgrounds to avoid the judgement of peers and faculty, complicating the likelihood of them accessing more public forms of financial assistance.
De-stigmatizing food assistance programs could help to ensure that no student goes hungry, just as grants and scholarships carry little stigma. Well-publicized campus food pantries can certainly help.
But too many students leave college because they can't afford both books and food, can't keep working long hours while taking organic chemistry, can't keep struggling in the hope of something better on the other side when their families need their support in the short term.
In the long run, college should simply be affordable for anyone qualified for admission. Only a deeply broken financial aid system leaves millions of students without adequate food.
