You can't survive on ramen and Natural Light: Lawmakers confront college food insecurity
While many college students are concerned about scoring a summer internship or scoping out the next good party, fourth-year Minnesota State University student Em Hodge and many people she knows have an entirely different concern: food insecurity.
'I know a lot of students and friends I've worked with don't know where their next meal is coming from,' Hodge said. 'And SNAP could really, really benefit them, but they just make a little too much money,' she said, referring to the federal-state food aid program and its tight eligibility requirement for students.
'Which is just so unfortunate,' said Hodge, a student lobbyist with Students United.
Hodge and her fellow students are not alone. College students experience food insecurity at nearly twice the rate of all American households and have been disproportionately underserved by SNAP.
More than one in five graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Minnesota said they worried about having enough food until they had money to buy more, the university's 2024 College Student Health Survey found.
Now, some Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers hope to make life a little easier for students like Hodge. With the help of Second Harvest Heartland and a university student lobbying group called Students United, the lawmakers want to loosen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program eligibility requirements to allow more college students to enroll.
Sen. Aric Putnam, DFL-St.Cloud, said current policies don't accurately reflect the needs of today's college students.
'There's a very dismissive presumption that college students can survive off of ramen and Natural Light for four years, and then they'll be fine,' said Putnam, referring to the cheap noodles and beer that have sustained many an undergrad. 'That's not today's college student.'
In 2021, Carolyn Litzell was a non-traditional student in her 30s with a full course load, a part-time job and an unpaid internship while paying bills and tuition. Litzell said SNAP was a bureaucratic nightmare. But she relied on it.
'Six or eight times I re-upped my SNAP, every single time it was rejected and then I would have to appeal through a legal process,' Litzell said. 'Now imagine English isn't my first language or I didn't have people who were willing to help me get my paperwork.'
To receive benefits, Minnesota college students must meet one federal SNAP eligibility requirement, like working 20 hours a week, having a documented mental or physical disability or caring for a child 11 years old or younger.
Litzell said SNAP eligibility requirements are unrealistic for students.
'Every time you got a new job — and when you're a student you get new jobs sometimes three or four times a year — you would have to report,' Litzell said. 'And the reporting process is, not to be conspiratorial, but I think intentionally obtuse.'
Indeed, Sophie Wallerstedt, spokesperson for Second Harvest Heartland, said a lack of awareness that students may be eligible and the intimidating SNAP application process contribute to students' underutilization.
Putnam and lobbyists from Second Harvest and Students United attempted to expand SNAP eligibility in 2023 with a bill that allowed Minnesota state colleges and the University of Minnesota to designate their institution as a SNAP Employment and Training program, effectively making more students eligible for SNAP.
'These are resources to which people are entitled already, and they are being actively neglected,' Putnam said.
The bill passed the Legislature, but was denied by the Biden administration, and the Trump administration is unlikely to change course.
Putnam said potential federal spending cuts to programs like SNAP — which congressional Republicans are mulling even as Elon Musk's DOGE takes a chainsaw to the entire government — are worrisome.
Wallerstedt, the spokesperson for Second Harvest, said SNAP cuts would mean increasing strain on campus food pantries.
Indeed, while a SNAP eligibility expansion remains unsettled, Students United is focused on getting more funding for campus food pantries.
The Hunger Free Campus Grant, passed in 2021, funds the organizations. The University of Minnesota, Mankato State University and Macalester College were among the 2024 grant recipients.
The Office of Higher Education awarded 24 schools a total of almost $450,000 as part of the Hunger Free Campus grant program in 2024.
Michelle Trumpy, director of public health at Boynton Health, said state funding is essential for Nutritious U — the University of Minnesota's food pantry — to purchase and store food. The campus pantry currently serves 1,800 students every month, 400 more students than the previous school year.
A bill introduced in the state Senate on March 13 would fund the Hunger Free Campus Grant through 2027.
Putnam said the grant provides food and educational resources.
'You don't see the education that travels with (the food) too, because that's not as obvious,' Putnam said. 'The nutrition discussions, the information about different resources that could be available, all of those things are great.'
Litzell said visiting Nutritious U was a comfortable experience, which is important for students who might otherwise attach shame to needing the food pantry.
'It was easy to get to, it was easy to get, the line always moved really fast, they were actually super efficient,' Litzell said. 'Getting that amount of food felt good.'
Hodge said she wants to see the reliable campus food pantry at Minnesota State expand.
'I've been through some phases where money is tight, so I'll go to the food pantry,' Hodge said.
Wallerstedt of Second Harvest Heartland said supplementing SNAP with a visit to a food shelf to get through the lean times is fine as a temporary measure, but it can't be the only game in town.
'It should not have to be the only thing that is available to students,' she said.
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