College students who are worried about their next meal are not able to fully engage in their studies. Ensuring food security – the reliable access to healthy sustenance – and, more generally, that students have their basic needs met is a significant issue for the college access and success community.

Unfortunately, students who experience food insecurity are often ineligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – a crucial means-tested program that provides a monthly benefit to be used for qualifying food purchases – due to requirements that can present undue barriers for students to access this assistance. Significant cuts to SNAP included in the budget reconciliation bill will also put downward pressure on state budgets in the coming years.

NCAN’s Recommendations

We recommend the following changes to SNAP to reduce bureaucracy and make it easier for eligible students to complete a postsecondary degree:

• Add the following exemptions for students who also meet income requirements of the SNAP program:
  • Students with an Expected Family Contribution of $0 as determined by the FAFSA. This provision allows students with the highest level of financial need, approximately $30,000 in household income, to apply for SNAP.
  • Students with any dependents under the age of 18. This change would align the parenting exemption for students with that of other SNAP recipients and eliminate the confusing three-tiered parenting rule in place now.
    
  • Undergraduate students who are considered independent for the purposes of federal student aid, including veterans, active-duty military personnel, students with a history in the foster care system, and older students. This category would simplify the recertification process for students and align it with federal financial aid eligibility.
• Eliminate the interview requirement for re-certification for students, so long as an individual’s identity is verified and all other mandatory verifications, such as residence and income, are provided. The interview presents a logistical hurdle for many students who are balancing school, work, and personal responsibilities. 
• Align the recertification process with the annual financial aid application process. Because many students provide a detailed financial picture to federal and state agencies via the FAFSA, which uses verified tax information from the IRS, the federal government should waive completion of the six-month verification and use information collected in the FAFSA thereafter to recertify.
• Allow students to give consent on the FAFSA for their data to be used for outreach about SNAP. FAFSA asks applicants for their consent to retrieve certain verified tax information from the IRS. Students could also be asked to indicate whether they give consent for their FAFSA data to be shared with the state SNAP agency for the purpose of identifying and conducting outreach to students who may be eligible for SNAP. Once students consent, college administrators, state and county officials should use the information to conduct proactive outreach to students who are eligible to apply for SNAP because they meet the student eligibility criteria.
• Create a federal emergency aid program to support food pantries on college campuses and help students deal with unexpected expenses that can disrupt their academic journeys.

NCAN is part of a national coalition of higher education and benefits access advocacy organizations working to advance these policy recommendations. For more information about the campaign to #LetStudentsEat, see here. 

Student Food Insecurity Research:

Food insecurity is increasingly prevalent among college students. Authoritative research by The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice estimates the rates of food insecurity as nearly half of students at two-year institutions and greater than one-third of students at four-year institutions. 

Moreover, due to a variety of factors, the uptake on food assistance programs appears mismatched with the need among college students. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that over half of college students who are eligible for SNAP, and are likely food insecure, do not receive these benefits. In this report, GAO states that the “substantial federal investment in higher education is at risk if college students drop out because they cannot afford basic necessities like food.”

Given that this research was produced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity among college students has in all likelihood gotten much worse.

Recent NCAN policy briefs have used data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) to estimate the number of college students experiencing food insecurity on each campus in Michigan and Pennsylvania. 

Resources:

• Find local food pantries via www.whyhunger.org/FindFood.
• Seek assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Here is the link to the directory of state offices that will have online SNAP applications: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/state-directory.
• Find other free and low-cost emergency food aid programs here: https://www.usa.gov/food-help. 

Reports:

• Higher Learning Advocates: Today's Students Deserve Their Fair (Data) Share
• National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness: Hunger on Campus, The Challenge of Food Insecurity for College Students
• U.S. Government Accountability Office: Better Information Could Help Eligible College Students Access Federal Food Assistance Benefits
• Center for Law and Social Policy: SNAP and Students - Food Assistance Can Support College Success