On March 7, student, community, higher education, and workforce development leaders gathered at Grand Valley State University in downtown Detroit, MI, for a roundtable conversation on how to address food insecurity among college students. The impetus
for this event was newly released data from a national survey showing that nearly a quarter of college students, or about 63,000, in Michigan experience food insecurity on a regular basis.
The event sponsors also released a policy brief showing the estimated number of students at each Michigan college that are food insecure.
Cyekeia Lee, Executive Director of the Detroit College Access Network (DCAN), opened the roundtable discussion with an important assertion: “Higher education is a powerful means of economic mobility for students and families, but students who are hungry
are more likely to drop out of college. You cannot learn if you are hungry.”
Lee’s points were echoed throughout the panel, including by Jamie Richardson, Workforce Associate Project Manager at Wayne County College Access Network, who emphasized that without systemic solutions, food insecurity can become a lifelong issue. “From
high school to college, food insecurity follows you,” Richardson shared, “And if you leave college, it follows you into the workplace. It affects everybody at every level. If we don’t fix it, it follows you through every door.”
Ayana Foxworthy, a student at Grand Valley State and a member of the Detroit Phoenix Center’s Youth Action Board, spoke candidly about her peers’ experiences with access to food on campus and off. She shared that many of her friends were familiar with
the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and many had even applied for the benefits, but a large percentage had been denied as a result of the program’s notoriously complex eligibility requirements for students. “Students understand
the benefits of SNAP, but it’s pretty much inaccessible,” Foxworthy said, adding, “it’s difficult for students who are in school to see their friends who aren’t in college have access to SNAP and have more food security. Particularly for first generation
college students."
Food insecurity among college students in Michigan has gained traction as a pressing issue in recent months. The roundtable event, hosted by DCAN and the Michigan Community College Association, was aimed at identifying systemic solutions to campus hunger
and building on progress made at the state level last year.
In October, Michigan introduced a Hunger Free Campus Bill, which would provide grants to public colleges and universities
to help address campus food insecurity. In November, the Michigan Senate adopted a resolution urging, “the
United States federal government to amend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to simplify the college student exemptions to make aid more accessible for prospective and enrolled students who come from low-income families.”
CBS Detroit previewed the roundtable event, which also featured Mott Community College President, Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, and Kenya
Maxey, Coordinator of Student Basic Needs at the Wayne State University food pantry and thrift shop. Although Mott Community College and Wayne State University have ongoing initiatives to support
students with affordable food access on campus, both speakers emphasized a need for state investment and federal policy surrounding student basic needs. “We’ve had really great donors and partnerships to help us serve 8,000 student households in 2023.
But we need resources and state aid to continue,” said Dr. Walker-Griffea, speaking of the impact of Mott’s Family Life Center, which support students and families with access to
food, childcare, and other needs. “I am so grateful that we have a food pantry on our campus,” Maxey agreed, adding, “But it is a band-aid. It is not a solution. We’re not taking the place of SNAP - students are still very much in need of that.”
The roundtable discussion in Detroit continued the momentum from a similar event hosted by
National College Attainment Network (NCAN) member, the Pittsburgh Promise, last fall, to address student food insecurity in Pennsylvania. Michigan and Pennsylvania are key states in advocacy surrounding student access to SNAP: Senator Debbie Stabenow
(D-MI) is the Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Senator Fetterman (D-PA,) is a committee member. The Agriculture Committee has broad authority over the Farm Bill legislation, which determines SNAP eligibility requirements.
If your elected officials sit on the House or Senate Agriculture Committee, and you would like to organize a similar event, please reach out to Louisa Woodhouse, NCAN Policy Associate, or Catherine Brown,
Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy.
NCAN is a proud member of a national coalition of organizations that includes Benefits Data Trust, Higher Learning Advocates, the Center on Higher Education Policy and Practice, and uAspire working to #LetStudentsEat.
We have launched a grassroots effort to encourage federal policymakers to simplify and align SNAP rules for college students so that they are easier for students and college administrators to understand and access. To advocate for this policy change,
we invite you to sign and send this letter to your Member of Congress.
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