Food Insecurity and Assistance on Campus: A Survey of the Student Body

Abstract

According to recent studies, food insecurity affects from 34%-59% of college students. This will continue to be an issue as tuition increases and more low-income and first-generation students enter universities and colleges. Nearly 52% of college students live at, or near, the poverty level, compared to a national poverty rate of 14.5%. This leaves many undergraduate and graduate students with challenging decisions around meeting their basic housing, nutritional, and educational expenses. To assess food insecurity at Kansas State University (KSU), a random sample of undergraduate and graduate students was surveyed. Findings include a high rate of food insecurity (44.3%) among respondents. This measure was calculated by summing the affirmative responses to the USDA short-form food security questions in the survey. This means that during a 7-month period during the 2016 to 2017 academic year, 44.3% of respondents experienced at least two of the following: 1) didn’t have enough food to last and didn’t have money to buy more, 2) couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals, 3) cut the size of or skipped meals, 4) ate less than they felt they should because they didn’t have enough money, or, 5) were hungry and didn’t eat. This finding is consistent with other studies that report food insecurity rates between 34% and 59% at U.S. universities and community colleges. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were generally aware that food insecurity is a significant problem on college campuses. A majority of respondents (63%) reported that they knew students besides themselves who, currently or sometime during the academic year, had 1 This research was supported in part by USDA Multistate Research Project NC1196, “Food Systems, Health, and Well-Being: Understanding Complex Relationships and Dynamics of Change.” 2 problems with food insecurity or hunger. Yet food assistance (e.g., food pantries) and SNAP are seldom used and responses regarding the use of an on-campus food pantry were mixed. Despite this mixed response, over 2,000 students had used the campus food pantry within the one-year period between opening in 2017 to 2018 (Bishop 2018). Introduction Food insecurity occurs when a household reduces the quality, variety, or desirability of its diet. It can lead to disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake (USDA ERS 2016). Before the recession in 2007, the rate of food insecurity in the U.S. was 11.1% (USDA ERS 2018). According to the latest available data, the food insecurity rate has not recovered to its prerecession level. An estimated 12.3% of households, or 15.8 million households (42 million individuals) “were food insecure at least some time during the year in 2016” (USDA ERS 2017). Many historically marginalized people in the U.S. live in so-called “food deserts” or areas with little to no available and accessible “healthy” food. Individuals residing in food deserts are more likely to be economically disadvantaged, have poorer nutrition, be exposed to unhealthy behaviors, develop diet-related poor health outcomes, and are geographically disadvantaged in terms of the number of food stores in their general area of residence (Guy and David 2004). Morland and Filomena (2007) and Franco et al. (2008) report that access to full-service retail food outlets offering fresh and frozen produce is better in predominantly white and higher income neighborhoods than in black, mixed race, and lower income neighborhoods. Within the relatively few supermarkets and grocery stores found in black, mixed race, and lower income neighborhoods in large cities, the amount and variety of healthy foods was found to be significantly lower than in supermarkets and grocery stores in predominately white and higher