College students struggling with hunger has been a growing concern for some time. Over the last decade, the number of food pantries on campuses has swelled from 80 to around 800. But surveys on the issue have been limited to colleges that participated voluntarily, leaving the true extent of the problem unknown.
Now, new data from the 2020 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study has provided the first nationally representative picture: more than one in five undergraduates experience food insecurity.
“We’re talking about four million people whose experience was invisible. It’s staggering in a nation this wealthy,” said Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, an independent consultant, senior fellow at Education Northwest, and founder of The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University, who published an analysis of the data.
The study, which featured responses from nearly 100,000 students, found that 23% of undergrads and 12% of grad students experience food insecurity, rates higher than those among the general public. Food insecurity is defined as the limited or uncertain availability of adequate food or the ability to obtain that food in a socially acceptable way. The study also found that 8% of undergraduates and 5% of grad students experience homelessness.
“There’s an alarming percentage of students who are enduring physical and emotional trauma,” said Jeff Webster, director of research at Trellis Company, a nonprofit that researches food insecurity in higher ed. “But it also speaks to their resilience, that they believe so strongly in the mission of going to college and what that can do to transform their lives that they’re willing to make the sacrifices”
Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab, independent consultant, senior fellow at Education Northwest, and founder of The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice at Temple University
