College students don’t need hunger lessons

College students and nutrition don’t always go together. Spend time on campus and sooner or later somebody will brag about a finals week fueled on cheap ramen, or weekends spent subsisting on leftover pizza. Similar diets in young schoolchildren would be cause for alarm; When they occur in college, outsiders and students alike tend to laugh them off or view poor nutrition as a college rite of passage. But there’s a more troubling side to that stale, pizza-fueled weekend.
Recent surveys find that as many as 41% of US college students report limited or uncertain access to food in the last 30 days. It’s a chronic problem that dates back years, fueled by rising tuition costs and — more recently — the rampant food inflation that’s hurting families and businesses across the US. The consequences are severe: Food-deprived college students exhibit poorer academic performance. Worse, the negative outcomes hit Black, first-generation and two-year college students hardest, widening racial and income inequalities that college should play a role in narrowing.
Last week, the Biden administration announced an initiative to address hunger and food insecurity. Some of the largest companies and philanthropies in the US signed on, with many taking a strong and understandable interest in nutrition for low-income families and school children. But college students received almost no attention. That’s a mistake, and one that private and public entities have the tools to address.
The cost of a meal plan at US colleges averaged $563 a month in 2021. Students already burdened by spiraling tuition debt may choose to skip taking on years of debt for food. But even those who elect to pay for a meal plan must often still find ways to pay for food on weekends, during breaks and in the midst of a late-night cram session. Part-time employment and work-study assignments offer some relief, but inflation is eroding those low-end wages, just as it’s eroding the wages of other low-income Americans.
The consequences for students can be severe. Food insecurity contributes to a range of negative psychological and health impacts. Numerous studies also have shown it contributes to poorer academic outcomes and reduced graduation rates. The impacts aren’t spread evenly across US college campuses. For example, last year researchers found that three-quarters of students at four historically Black college and universities reported some level of food insecurity. That far exceeds levels reported for White students. Working parents, lower-income students and students at community colleges also show higher levels of food insecurity.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a new problem. In 1993, students at Michigan State University responded to hunger on campus by establishing the country’s first student-run campus food pantry. They and other college students across the US obviously saw a pressing need. As of 2021, there were at least 352 campus food pantries serving thousands of undergraduate and graduate students.