Food insecurity plagues our nation, with 47.4 million people living in food-insecure households, according to the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA). However, what is primarily sidelined is food insecurity among college students.
Health Affairs, an organization that focuses on health policy and data, reported in 2020 that almost 30 percent of college students at a four-year college face food insecurity. A Temple University study finds that out of these students, a majority are people of color suffering these disparities; over a third of African American undergraduate students report having food insecurity, with white counterparts only reporting 18 percent.
A Report by the Unidos US, a Latinos Civil Rights organization, finds that in a survey of 3,000 Latino students, 85 percent reported facing food insecurity. Two-thirds of Latinos considered dropping out of college due to the struggle to stay afloat. One-third reported taking a leave of absence.
Fordham University’s Swipe Out Hunger Initiative
Fordham University’s Campus Ministry, a student-led organization in charge of planning and programming for the school, partners with Aramark (Fordham’s food service company) in their Swipe Out Hunger initiative. Students are encouraged to donate their leftover meal swipes to help fellow students battling food insecurity.
Students who request meal swipe donations can reach out through email (campusminlc@fordham.edu) or go to the offices of Campus Ministry in person. Once their request is received, Financial Aid runs a background check to ensure a student is eligible. A student is considered ineligible if they still have loan money that isn’t being used. Those who are accepted will receive 10 meal swipes per request.
Erin Hoffman, Director of Campus Ministry at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus, spoke on this topic. “We know that this is like a very small drop in the bucket, that it isn’t going to solve a student’s whole context, but that it can help bridge that gap a little. Even if, like for those ten days, they are at least getting one good meal a day,” Hoffman said when addressing why this work is so valuable.
Aramark provides students with about four guest meal swipes per semester, depending on their meal plan, which are eligible to be donated, Hoffman said. She also said that the Ministry is in charge of promoting this initiative through posters, signs, and other forms of marketing.
“I feel like they could be advertised more,” said Fordham University freshman Julia Covino. Covino has donated her meal swipes before. The donations get accepted once students scan a QR code and give consent on a survey. She was looking for a good deed and heard from her roommate about the opportunity. Covino plans to donate more often but thinks the university needs to improve its promotion so more students in need get the message.
Hoffman agrees with Covino and expresses the efforts the Ministry is providing to find more ways to promote the initiative, such as partnering with the United Student Government (USG) for the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony. She said they are also partnering with Residential Life for a food drive to get the word out on the meal donation program.
“Students are hesitant to come forward as it is a sensitive topic,” said Gilda Severiano, Director of Operations for Campus Ministry at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. Severiano also noted that the Ministry tries to reach out to students in need by advertising meal swipe donations with The Ram, the university newspaper, among other subtle ways to inform those in need without exposing their struggles.
Severiano expressed that this program is small, so its help is still limited. Most students requesting meal swipes are commuter students, she said.
Covino also believes that there can be improvements in Fordham’s current meal plans, “ The portions are so small so I feel like that definitely doesn’t help” said Covino. She believes that the university needs to continue helping in this food insecurity crisis, and part of the way they can do this is by providing better meal services and prices.
Severiano said that Fordham most likely cannot reduce its meal prices as a committee made up of students (and administrators) contracted the existing meal plans for roughly 10 years.
“Do we as a country see ourselves as people for each other? Do we work for the common good anymore?” said Severiano.
Food Insecurity Among College Students in the US
Sara Goldrick-Rab, a retired professor, and sociologist, said the federal government places 23 percent of US college students in food insecurity. But Goldrick-Rab speculates those numbers have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the nation.
When diving deeper into why food insecurity is prevalent today, Goldrick-Rab stated how today’s college students have less financial assistance in a world with more expensive education. She suspects food insecurity among college students is on the rise.
Goldrick-Rab said food insecurity in higher education plagues the nation as a whole, not just a few areas of the country. “We have to do things that address the root causes,” said Goldrick-Rab.
She believes the responsibility of this issue falls onto everyone to solve, “Government should be helping, the colleges should be helping, but we’re also going to need everyday people to get involved and make this a priority issue.”