"Hunger on campus is part of a lingering national problem that grew after the financial crisis that began in late 2007. In an unforgiving economy, many students across the country struggle not only to pay tuition but also to buy food. Colleges and nonprofit groups have noticed, and more are reacting. Food pantries are cropping up on two-year and four-year campuses nationwide, including, in recent years, at Oregon State University, the University of Georgia, and Valencia College. At Bunker Hill Community College, volunteers from the Greater Boston Food Bank recently gave out truckloads of groceries to needy students."
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Chronicle: The Problem of Hunger on College Campuses
Few people would think there is a hunger problem among college students. Whether they are ineligible for food stamps or feel shameful about their current financial situation, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, money worries keeps students going to campus food banks.
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2 comments:
The student body at my undergrad university was pretty good at addressing this. We had a food bank as well as a by-donation place to get a healthy lunch with leftovers to take home. People also frequently did personal challenges of eating on $5/day (aka the food stamp challenge) and writing about their experiences.
I would love to see college students leverage their political muscle and try to change the rules for food stamps.
I applied for food stamps about two months ago and was told I was ineligible because I did not have a part-time job.
As a graduate student, it's very tough for me to squeeze in a part-time job on top of 20 hours of graduate classes.
I was lucky enough to get a job this month and I'm worrying a lot less about paying for food but I shudder to think what life would be like if I hadn't obtained this job.
Unfortunately, I don't work enough hours to receive food stamps but oh well.
I also think more students are going hungry because their student loans don't go as far as they used to. Normally one could live fairly decently off a student loan refund check. That isn't so.
The cost of tuition is constantly rising but student loan limits (at least for federal loans) have stayed the same.
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