College students, stressed about federal food aid uncertainty, look to campuses for support

SACRAMENTO Calif AP Acorn squash Spam and baby food lined the shelves on a fresh day at a college food pantry in California s capital city a asset that students receiving federal aid to purchase groceries may have to increasingly rely on because that assistance has been in limbo during the administration shutdown Hundreds of students at California State University Sacramento or Sac State visit the school s Basic Demands Reserve Center every week where they can select up to a dozen items per trip ranging from fresh produce and meat to toiletries and secondhand clothes It s a big blessing stated Antonette Duff a junior studying psychology at the university who s enrolled in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Effort formerly known as food stamps More than students at the college of roughly receive aid through SNAP mentioned Emily Tupper the college s director of Situation Assistance and Source Development Backing More than college students in California and million nationwide are on SNAP according to the state s Department of Social Services and the U S Authorities Accountability Office respectively Numerous students are facing tuition and housing bills juggling classes and often working lower paying part-time jobs that make it complicated to afford groceries with prices on the rise SNAP benefits for roughly million people in the U S were cut off at the beginning of November due to the governing body shutdown A federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the plan but late Friday the U S Supreme Court granted the administration s crisis appeal temporarily blocking the order The mixed messaging has left students who rely on SNAP confused and colleges trying to curb hunger on campus by spreading awareness about food pantries and handing out free meals It just puts students in a really horrible position revealed Mike Hannigan a pupil at Greenfield Locality College in Massachusetts and an advocate against food insecurity on college campuses Hannigan receives just under a month from SNAP but the benefits didn t come through at the beginning of November due to establishment delays If SNAP benefits keep getting delayed he doesn t know what he would do to afford groceries he mentioned Chosen students including those at society colleges who don t have meal plans may have to decide whether or not they are going to attend a class or they re going to pick up an extra shift to try to make money to be able to feed themselves or their families Hannigan announced Campus food pantries and farmers markets offer various relief Hannigan and other students lately hosted a free farmers arena on campus and gave out thousands of pounds of vegetables from local farms Nothing was left over Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College a tribal college of about students in North Dakota hosts Soup Tuesdays to feed students on campus for free Students can also access a food pantry and kits with easy-to-prep meals such as chicken Alfredo or chili and they ll soon be able to pick up gift cards from the school to use at local grocery stores Countless people living on tribal land or in rural areas are in so-called food deserts with limited access to grocery stores college President Twyla Baker reported The uncertainty over SNAP caused by the political stalemate in Washington adds another layer of difficulty To essentially use the the majority vulnerable as political pawns is just untenable Baker disclosed It s unsustainable and it s detrimental to the country as a whole Food insecurity on college campuses has been on the rise in the past decade and students have had to make tough choices about how to stretch their wallets to cover the necessities announced AJ Scheitler director of the Evidence Equity Center at the University of California Los Angeles Center for Strength Procedures Research Students will first make sure that they pay for tuition and books and all that stuff so that they can stay enrolled at school she disclosed After that they concern themselves with transportation so that they can get to school then housing and then food almost becomes this category that you can go without if you have to if after all of those other categories you don t have any money Sac State s food pantries host grocery pop ups on campus twice a month where students can pick up fresh produce for free stated Tupper the school official The college may hold the events more often if federal food aid keeps getting delayed At the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque which estimates at least of students receive SNAP benefits officers have encouraged people to donate food funds or their time to the campus food pantry Between and students pop into the campus pantry every day stated Lisa Lindquist director of the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center The pantry is free and open to all students Certain fill up baskets with as a great number of as pounds kilograms of food per visit while others are looking for a snack to hold them over between classes The pantry is fueled by donations but there have been times when staffers have had to run out to the grocery to buy more items to keep the shelves stocked It s not necessarily for a lack of people donating it s just that the food it just goes in and out so expeditiously she mentioned That tells me anecdotally there s great need Students stressed about food aid uncertainty On a latest trip to the grocery store July Star Medina a senior studying biology at Sac State was shocked she had to spend about just to buy chicken and a inadequate spices She s had to make more frequent trips to the Basic Requirements Asset Center in fresh months because her SNAP benefits decreased from to a month this year The assistance was lowered after she started working more hours during the summer but it hasn t gone back up now that she s working less during the fall semester I don t think it s enough at all Medina commented After one week of groceries that ll last me maybe two weeks The prospect of that going away has been stressful she reported And that s why I ve been trying to come here to see what I can get Medina disclosed outside the center Now I need to see where I can pull money aside to just get basic things Scheitler the UCLA researcher revealed the uncertainty is just so rough for students And the number of students who may have to drop out of school because they need to eat their grades are going to fall she noted Their mental healthcare is going to be hurt by the stress of not being able to eat This is going to have a key impact if they can t figure out how to fix this and fix this briskly Associated Press Southwest chief correspondent Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque New Mexico contributed to this assessment Source