SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) 鈥� Acorn squash, Spam and baby food lined the shelves on a recent day at a college food pantry in California’s capital city, a resource that students receiving federal aid to purchase groceries may have to increasingly rely on because that during the government shutdown.
Hundreds of students at California State University, Sacramento, or Sac State, visit the school’s Basic Needs Resource Center every week, where they can select up to a dozen items per trip 鈥� ranging from fresh produce and meat to toiletries and secondhand clothes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big blessing,鈥� said Antonette Duff, a junior studying psychology at the university who鈥檚 enrolled in the federal , formerly known as food stamps.
More than 3,600 students at the college of roughly 31,000 receive aid through SNAP, said Emily Tupper, the college鈥檚 director of Crisis Assistance and Resource Education Support. More than 200,000 college students in California and 1.1 million nationwide are on SNAP, according to the state’s Department of Social Services and the U.S. Government Accountability Office, respectively.
Many students are facing tuition and housing bills, juggling classes, and often working lower paying part-time jobs that make it difficult to afford groceries, .
SNAP benefits for roughly 42 million people in the U.S. were cut off at the beginning of November due to the government shutdown. A federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to fully fund the program, but late Friday the U.S. Supreme Court granted the temporarily blocking the order. The mixed messaging has left confused and colleges trying to curb hunger on campus by spreading awareness about food pantries and handing out free meals.
鈥淚t just puts students in a really horrible position,鈥� said Mike Hannigan, a student at Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts and an advocate against food insecurity on college campuses.
Hannigan receives just under $300 a month from SNAP, but the benefits didn鈥檛 come through at the beginning of November due to government delays.
If SNAP benefits keep getting delayed, he doesn’t know what he would do to afford groceries, he said. Some students, including those at community colleges who don’t have meal plans, may 鈥渉ave to decide whether or not they are going to attend a class or they鈥檙e going to pick up an extra shift to try to make money to be able to feed themselves or their families,鈥� Hannigan said.
Campus food pantries and farmers markets offer some relief
Hannigan and other students recently hosted a free farmers market 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 250 students in North Dakota, hosts 鈥楽oup Tuesdays鈥� 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.
Many 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 said. The uncertainty over SNAP caused by the political stalemate in Washington adds another layer of difficulty.
鈥淭o essentially use the most vulnerable as political pawns is just untenable,” Baker said. “It鈥檚 unsustainable, and it鈥檚 detrimental to the country as a whole.鈥�
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, said AJ Scheitler, director of the Data Equity Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy Research.
鈥淪tudents will first make sure that they pay for tuition and books and all that stuff so that they can stay enrolled at school,” she said. “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鈥檛 have any money.鈥�
Sac State’s food pantries host grocery pop ups on campus twice a month where students can pick up fresh produce for free, said 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 4.5% of students receive SNAP benefits, officials have encouraged people to donate food, funds or their time to the .
Between 100 and 150 students pop into the campus pantry every day, said Lisa Lindquist, director of the LoboRESPECT Advocacy Center. The pantry is free and open to all students. Some fill up baskets with as many as 10 pounds (4.5 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.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily for a lack of people donating, it鈥檚 just that the food, it just goes in and out so quickly,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat tells me anecdotally, there鈥檚 great need.鈥�
Students stressed about food aid uncertainty
On a recent trip to the grocery store, July Star Medina, a senior studying biology at Sac State, was shocked she had to spend about $30 just to buy chicken and a few spices. She’s had to make more frequent trips to the Basic Needs Resource Center in recent months because her SNAP benefits decreased from $290 to $120 a month this year. The assistance was lowered after she started working more hours during the summer, but it hasn鈥檛 gone back up now that she鈥檚 working less during the fall semester.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 enough at all,鈥� Medina said. 鈥淎fter one week of groceries that鈥檒l last me maybe two weeks.鈥�
The prospect of that $120 going away has been stressful, she said.
鈥淎nd that’s why I’ve been trying to come here to see what I can get,鈥� Medina said outside the center. 鈥淣ow I need to see where I can pull money aside to just get basic things.鈥�
Scheitler, the UCLA researcher, said the uncertainty 鈥渋s just so rough鈥� for students.
鈥淎nd the number of students who may have to drop out of school because they need to eat, their grades are going to fall,” she said. “Their mental health is going to be hurt by the stress of not being able to eat. This is going to have a significant impact if they can鈥檛 figure out how to fix this and fix this quickly.鈥�
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Associated Press Southwest chief correspondent Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
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