The Ramen Noodle Diaries: The Reality of Campus Food Insecurity
Food Pantry Director’s Log: Spring Semester
Two undergrad male students walk into a campus food pantry . . .
Student 1: Hey, so, what is this place?
Me: It’s our new campus Food Pantry — any student, staff or faculty can come and shop for a bag of food once a week.
Student 2: But like, how do we show that we need it?
Me: If you need food, you can get it.
Student 1 (looking at Student 2): Duuuuuude.
Student 2 (looking at Student 1): Bro!!!!!!!
Student 1: (making intense eye contact with me) We have only eaten hot dogs and rice for two weeks. You have no idea.
Awesome Pantry Intern: Oh, I am TOTALLY going to hook you up! I’ll get you bags — do you like peanut butter?
Student 2: Holy sh*t Bro, we’re going to eat dinner tonight.
Student Food Insecurity
The experiences of Dude and Bro are all too common across university and college campuses today. The popular stereotype of students only eating ramen noodles is unfortunately not a choice, but a necessity, for many students today. Food insecurity is defined as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. A 2018 national study of university students conducted by the Wisconsin Hope Lab found that 36% of university students in the United States were food insecure in the 30 days prior to the survey. And the expectation is that those numbers have only gotten worse in the last few years.
It can be hard to see student food insecurity through all of the grandeur of a modern college campus, but hunger and need are as much a part of college life as football games and final exams.
What does student food insecurity look like?
- A parent loses their job, and suddenly a student who thought they had no financial worries must now find ways to pay for housing, tuition, fees and food while away at school.
- A student who got sick and had to miss two weeks of work. While her employer was supportive, she had been living pay check to pay check all year, and by missing two weeks of work had no money left to buy food until she got paid again.
- A student with no family safety net to help when times are tough financially.
- An international student who arrived in the United States confident that with the support of his family back home he would be financially secure. But an unexpected political crisis in his country causes the currency to fall and suddenly he does not have enough money to get through the semester.
- A student who misjudged their dining hall meal plan and suddenly runs out of dining hall swipes with a few weeks left in the school year.
- Landlord issues that cause a student to have to move unexpectedly during the semester and pay a higher rent because there is limited housing available.
- Having to make a choice between an unpaid/once in a lifetime school related opportunity that could open doors for a future career, or continuing to work a low-paid job to pay the bills.
- A student athlete hit with unexpected medical bills due to an injury during practice. The NCAA mandates that all student athletes must have health insurance, but does not require schools to pay for it, or for any medical expenses. While some schools are providing supplemental financial support to injured athletes, not all of them have done so.
- A roommate moves out unexpectedly and those remaining in the house have to cover their rent until they can find a sub-leaser.
- An unexpectedly challenging semester means the student has to make a choice between studying to keep up their grades, and working long hours.
- A student leaves an abusive relationship and suddenly has nowhere to live, and must scramble to find housing and pay bills.
- Unexpected school expenses such as textbooks or lab fees cause a student to dramatically cut back on groceries to save money.
The National School Lunch Program at the K-12 level has been a recognition that food and student success go hand in hand. Fortunately more and more schools and legislatures are recognizing the issue at the post-secondary level and taking action by creating emergency funds, building food pantries and engaging in conversations about student access to federal programs such as SNAP.
Let’s keep these conversations about student basic needs going. Let’s make sure that students stay in school, find success and graduate. Let’s make sure that Dude and Bro only eat a hot dog because they want to, not because they have no other choice.
