Running head: FOOD INSECURITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS 1

Food Insecurity Among College Students

Tasmia Moosani

Seattle University

EDUC 5590: The American Community College

Professor Nguyen

June 13th, 2018

Food Insecurity Among College Students

There are many reasons that come up when we think about the challenges that students

face in college. One challenge is food insecurity, which is often left out of these conversations.

Recent studies show, however, that almost half of the college student population struggle with

food insecurity and this includes community colleges (Maroto, Snelling, & Linck, 2015). Basic

needs that stay unmet may affect students’ physical and mental well-being, and this plays a role

in their academic success. I argue that food insecurity needs to be brought to attention - that

community colleges face food insecurity amongst their students and that resources need to be put

in place to support these students. There are plenty of ways to make such resources available and

many schools have been successful in their efforts.

This reflection focuses on best practices that currently exist on developing food banks for

students. We need to begin working on action plans and move past the “surprising” numbers

because they do exist and it has been proven that students are hungry. Costs of higher education

continue to rise and students are having to choose between college costs and basic needs such as

food. When it comes down to cutting expenses, most students will consider food as their “most

flexible expenditure” (Dubick, Mathews, & Cady, 2016). Food insecurity really undermines

students’ abilities to do well in school; they can barely escape the conditions of poverty long

enough to complete their degrees. Data suggest that food insecurity is an issue for a large

percentage of the community college student sample. As a result, food insecurity may have

adverse effects on student academic performance and is a factor to be considered by college

administrators, faculty, and students (Maroto, Snelling, & Linck, 2015). Food security needs to

be brought to the table if we want students to graduate.

Demonstrating the Need for a Pantry

The College and University Food Bank alliance (CUFBA) published a report on Running

a Campus Food Pantry. They discussed the necessary tools to have in order to successfully run a

campus food pantry. One of the first major steps before Running a Campus Food Pantry, for

example, is to conduct a campus wide survey that includes students, faculty, and staff. CUFBA

stated, for example, that “your survey should include questions about individuals’ access to food,

their food budget, their willingness to use a campus pantry, and their potential to volunteer. Input

from these surveys will give you a much clearer portrait of food insecurity and hunger on your

campus” (CUFBA). The report further mentions on outreach and how tabling is a great form of

student outreach to get the campaign across as they walk past it. CUFBA also mentions how this

is a great way to start conversations around food insecurity and learn about personal stories and

seek out potential volunteers. Kirkland Community College in Michigan, for example, whose

motto is “Nourishing Bodies and Minds,” did an excellent job at assessing the needs of their

student population through this step. They conducted a survey to confirm that food insecurity is

common amongst their student population and as they tabled to get the word out, this helped

them find partnerships on campus who were willing to support them on this campaign. This was

a great way to get the community involved and informed about a topic that students feel they are

facing alone when in reality, it is a larger population that faces food insecurity. Kirkland

community college also included faculty and staff, as mentioned in CUFBA toolkit, which

resulted in multiple partnerships across campus that later developed staff/faculty food drive kick-

off event as a tradition to stock up the food pantry. CUFBA mentions that after conducting a

survey and getting the data to support the needs of students, immediate action is crucial to then

go to administration to get the support from them.

Staffing the Food Pantry

A How-to-Manual based on the Ohio State University (OSU) Food Pantry developed by

Sarah E. Cunningham and Dana M. Johnson shares a few important steps on how to operate a

campus food pantry. One of these steps is how they promote the food pantry and get volunteers.

For example, they stated: “We found it particularly helpful to contact professors of courses that

had a food and/or service component. These professors were only too happy to make

volunteering at the food pantry an option for their students either for a grade or as extra credit,

who would then complete so many hours and usually write a paper about the experience”

(Cunningham & Johnson, 2011). This is an amazing way to promote the existence of the food

pantry but also a chance for faculty to play a role in helping sustain the food pantry. In exchange,

students get to be part of the community by playing a role in helping run the food pantry. Durma

Tech Community College in North Carolina does an excellent job at incorporating this into their

food pantry website. Service Learning is often times required at this community college for

students in certain classes so the food pantry has partnered with the school to have volunteering

at the food pantry count towards their service learning hours. This does a couple of great things.

For one, it helps those that need service learning to be able to access that requirement on their

campus which might be easier than having to complete it somewhere off campus. Secondly, it

helps sustain the food pantry with staff as volunteers help with stocking shelves and distributing

foods. Having enough folks to run the food pantry is often times a concern for college campuses

who are trying to develop one but communicating early on to create an opportunity such as the

service learning one can help ensure staff will be available.

Utilizing the Idea of Campus Community Gardens

Students Against Hunger wrote a report called “Hunger on Campus” that talks about the

challenges student face when they are food insecure. One of the recommended ideas put out in

this report was Campus Community Gardens. The report mentions that campus community

gardens are great ways to get students involved in the community while working on the needs of

students on the campus. Moreover, “once established, campus gardens can easily be integrated

into existing food programs by providing produce to the food pantry” (Dubick, Mathews, &

Cady, 2016). At Nassau Community College (NCC), their food pantry, The NEST, is engaging

the entire campus in the efforts to serve students who are food insecure. The NCC Organic

Garden, where faculty, staff, and students volunteer, donates different fresh food depending on

the growing seasons. A campus community garden is an excellent and long-term action item that

can benefit the college in many ways. It gives students to be a part of something big on campus

and make a real change with their own hard work.

Challenges

Changing institutional structure to support the current student population always takes

time and effort. There are plenty of setbacks that can arise when working on food insecurity on

campus. One main thing is money. How do we get institutions to support and fund an initiative

like this? But like discussed earlier, conducting a survey on campus to demonstrate the need of a

food pantry on the campus with support from wider research done such as from the Wisconsin

Hope Lab. The topic of food insecurity among college students is rising and more data is being

collected to prove that this need is widespread. One other concern might be around anonymity

and being able to feel like students can use the food pantry without having any judgment

However, the experiences have turned out to be positive and empowering for students. This is
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS 6

because the assumption is that students think they are going through this alone. Once again, the

Wisconsin Hope Lab also found that half of the student population on college campuses are in

fact food insecure. Moreover, “data further suggest that

Conclusion

College campuses may be overlooking food insecurity as a major factor that impacts

student success. When students are hungry, their academic success may be indirectly impacted,

leading to lower GPAs and higher dropout rates.While looking at food insecurity, we must also

take into account that community colleges “are the most accessible, affordable points of entry to

higher education in the United States and they exist in nearly every corner of the nation. They

serve nearly one in two undergraduates and enroll by far the most economically and racially

diverse students” (Goldrick-Rab, Richardson, & Hernandez, 2017). This being said, food

insecure students have a higher chance of being first-generation students, low-income, and/or

students of color. These marginalized students are coming into an educational system that is not

designed for them resulting in pre-existing barriers that we, as student affair professionals are

trying to minimize to the best of our ability, but we will not reach our full potential until we

include food insecurity in the conversation. The importance of food pantries on campus,

however, is not the only solution in place that can help food insecure students. Partnering with

neighboring food banks and financial literacy workshops on how to apply for government

benefits are all programs that exist on college campuses as well. There is something that can be

done to help food insecure students, even if it starts out as a workshop being offered once a

month. To continue working on student success, it is important to observe and listen to the needs

of the students. There are underlying causes that are causing higher dropout rates and food
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insecurity is being proven by more and more research that it is a strong factor. It is now time to

take action on how we can support these students so that they can reach their academic goals.
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References

Broton, K., & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2016). The dark side of college (un) affordability: Food and

housing insecurity in higher education. Change: The Magazine of Higher

Learning, 48(1), 16-25.

Cunningham, S. E., & Johnson, D. M. (2011). So You Want to Start a Campus Food Pantry? A

How-To Manual. Oregon Food Bank, Portland, OR.

Dubick, J., Mathews, B., & Cady, C. (2016). Hunger on campus: The challenge of food

insecurity for college students. College and University Food Bank Alliance. Retrieved

from http://studentsagainsthunger.org/wpcontent/uploads/2016/10/Hunger_On_Campus.

Goldrick-Rab, S., Broton, K., & Eisenberg, D. (2015). Hungry to learn: Addressing food &

housing insecurity among undergraduates. Wisconsin Hope Lab, 1-25.

Goldrick-Rab, S., Richardson, J., & Hernandez, A. (2017). Hungry and homeless in college:

Results from a national study of basic needs insecurity in higher education.

Maroto, M. E., Snelling, A., & Linck, H. (2015). Food insecurity among community college

students: Prevalence and association with grade point average. Community College

Journal of Research and Practice, 39(6), 515-526