Students going hungry
Over 2 million full-time college students nationwide seek meal or grocery assistance through Feeding America, according to the survey Hunger in America 2014.
Feeding America is a network of 200 food banks across the country, including the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City. According to their research, one in 10 of the hungry they serve nationwide are full-time college students.
The data in this study may not reflect the status of hunger for the Utah State University community, but due to the culture of full-time students with little money to spare, resources for struggling students are available on campus.
The Student Nutrition Access Center, or SNAC, is located on the third floor of the Taggart Student Center. The food pantry, which is run and organized by students, opened in 2010. SNAC has served 30 to 50 students this semester, said Emma Archibald, director of the pantry. She said participation has more than doubled this past year, which she feels is due to word-of-mouth.
“Just this last week we had like five new people entered into our system, so it grows all the time,” Archibald said.
Advertising for SNAC is “tricky,” Archibald said. She said if every student utilized the student-run pantry, shelves would be empty.
“You don’t want the entire school to come into our little pantry, … so it is really tricky because you do want to target the people who need it,” she said.
Archibald said SNAC does not have statistics on students who go hungry in the Cache Valley area, but with the tendency of college students to be low on cash, some may be unaware that they are not receiving the proper nutrition they need when they buy cheap food.
“I think that is a huge barrier,” she said. “A lot of people don’t realize that they’re undernourished.”
Food security, as defined by the World Health Organization, is an individual or family’s access to safe and nutritious food. Food security is the physical and economic access to food that will meet dietary needs.
According to the College and University Food Bank Alliance, more and more students have become food insecure, meaning they cannot afford nutritious food. The group of students the CUFBA associates with food insecurity are non-traditional students; those balancing jobs, family life and school struggle the most.
But fewer families are able to support their traditionally-aged students through school, meaning less money for groceries.
“These students can be food insecure too,” states the CUFBA website. “Food insecurity cuts across all demographic statuses, enrollment levels, and geographic locations. Empty cupboards and scrapping by are a way a life for far too many students and these stressors affect student success.”
Archibald said SNAC has teamed up with the Food Sense Nutrition Education Program through USU Extension to help students learn how to make nutritious meals on a budget to help close that gap.
The Cache Community Food Pantry serves 2,500 Cache Valley families every month, including those referred from senior centers or other local organizations. Matt Whitaker, director of the pantry, said college students are referred to SNAC when they come for assistance.
He said that because of the average single college student’s income level, all would qualify for pantry assistance, which would clean off the shelves on a weekly basis.
Unlike the Cache Community Food Pantry, there are no income or other requirements for students to use SNAC.
“As long as they’re a USU student, they’re able to use it,” Archibald said.
— manda.perkins@hotmail.com
Twitter: @perkins_manda