As more students struggle to afford food, some campuses are getting creative

DEKALB, Ill. – Dozens of raised beds filled with cherry tomatoes, bok choy and deep purple eggplant on a fall day next to a dorm at Northern Illinois University. Bees buzzed around as students cut through the yard to get to class on time.

Everyone can pick the fruits and vegetables in this garden. Student gardener Emily Larrivee says it is popular with both students and the surrounding community in DeKalb, Illinois.

“The other day I went to get tomatoes, and a new student came to live with his parents,” Larrivee said. ‘And his mother said… can we try the tomatoes? And it’s like they’re absolutely free to take.

This garden is part of the university’s Edible Campus program, which aims to address food insecurity among students by creating practical, sustainable food systems.

More than a quarter of students across the country do not have consistent access to food. At some universities that number is much higher; at some institutions, up to half of the student population struggles to access food. By comparison, about 13 percent of U.S. households experience food insecurity, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

About 29 percent of students at four-year colleges experienced food insecurity in the fall of 2020, according to the Hope Center for Student Basic Needs at Temple University in Philadelphia. At two-year colleges, the problem was even worse, with 38 percent of students concerned about access to food.

At NIU, the free-pick gardens are just part of the university’s effort to address student hunger. Edible Campus sent thousands of pounds of harvested fruits and vegetables to campus dining services and NIU’s food pantry. Principal Bryan Flower said they also created a free meal preparation program after realizing students did not have access to kitchens while living in the dorms.

He said students in the program go home with five meals to put in the freezer, as well as a set of new cooking skills.

“I’ve had students say if I didn’t have this, I could take it out of the freezer, I’d go from breakfast to dinner without having anything to eat,” Flower said.

Student hunger contributes to increased stress levels

The Hope Center conducts research on student hunger and policies and evaluates students’ basic needs through a food insecurity survey.

Lead researcher Stacy Priniski said that if students don’t know where their next meal is coming from, it significantly adds to their already elevated stress levels.

“Students regularly make decisions about which bills to pay,” Priniski said. “On whether they should go to work or school, on whether they should work three jobs versus two jobs, on how much sleep they can afford based on the number of jobs they have to work and when their classes are .”

The Hope Center also advocates for policy changes at the federal level and coaches universities on specific, effective solutions that can be implemented on campus. Priniski said one of the best ways to create meaningful change on college campuses is to put student-led action at the center of the solution.

“One of the recommendations we give to all of our schools is to get other students involved,” Priniski said. “Students are the biggest advocates for themselves and their peers. (They) always have very good ideas about awareness campaigns, about meeting students’ needs, about when and where services can be easily accessed.”

Both students and universities are beginning to understand the seriousness of the problem. One of the first things schools can do to address this problem is to look internally at the level of food insecurity among students on their own campuses.

Trellis Strategies, a Texas-based marketing research group, has offered community research to more than 260 schools since 2018. They partner with universities to conduct a free financial wellness survey of students on campus, analyze the data and make recommendations for effective solutions.

Research manager Allyson Cornett says students from food-insecure households are 43 percent less likely to graduate. She herself struggled to access food at university and is passionate about reducing the number of students facing similar issues.

“You shouldn’t have to be hungry or eat food you don’t want to eat to get by, to go to school,” Cornett said. “There’s nothing worse than paying for college and going through everything, and then not having that degree to get the return on investment you were promised,” she said.

Navigating SNAP requirements can be overwhelming

A major obstacle for students is navigating state and federal food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or food stamps, Cornett said. She said it can be an overwhelming challenge for busy students.

“They’re already trying to get all these different things done, and then we’re asking them to jump through even more hoops and demonstrate their poverty,” Cornett said.

At the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where nearly 26 percent of students experience food insecurity, the food assistance team has been working for years to give students better access to their services.

They joined the Hope Center’s investigation in 2020 and created a food safety task force and advisory committee to address the issue head-on.

Food security is a complex, systemic issue; There’s so much university officials can’t control on their own, said Carlen Fidler, UMKC food assistance coordinator. She said there are ways they can intervene and provide more accessible options for their students.

“I think we all just have to come together and work together to address the problem, talk about it, be open about it and hopefully see the numbers go down,” Fidler said.

The school set up a food pantry in the busy student center, hired a SNAP coordinator to help students apply for federal aid and created a system where students can donate meal plans to their peers.

Advocates are very clear about one thing: It shouldn’t be acceptable for students to struggle — and starve — while working hard toward their degrees.

“There’s a huge stigma that, oh, when you go to college, it’s a rite of passage to be poor and only eat ramen,” Fidler said. “And I really don’t believe that has to be true.”

This story was created in collaboration with Harvest public media and the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Bureauan independent reporting network based in the University of Missouriwith major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. Northern Illinois University also receives Walton funding.