OF COLLEGE (UN)AFFORDABILITY
Food and Housing Insecurity
in Higher Education
By Katharine Broton and
Sara Goldrick-Rab
Katharine Broton (kmbroton@wisc.edu) is a doctoral
candidate in the Department of Sociology and a member of
the Wisconsin HOPE Lab at the University of Wisconsin–
Madison. She is interested in educational inequalities, with
a focus on higher education. Her current research examines
experiences of poverty among college students.
Sara Goldrick-Rab (srab@education.wisc.edu) is a professor
of educational policy studies and sociology at the University
of Wisconsin–Madison and founding director of the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, a translational research laboratory aimed at
finding effective ways to make college more affordable.
16
Change • January/February 2016
In Short
• Some students from low-income families are unable to pay their
•
•
•
M
college costs without experiencing material hardship. What they
do to make ends meet (e.g., go hungry and homeless) inhibits
learning and discourages persistence.
Strategic college leaders investigate the needs of their students
and draw on the strengths of their institutions and those of their
communities to meet those challenges: for example, by changing
school policies and financial due dates, creating short-term
interest-free loan programs at the beginning of the school year,
hiring counselors with social-work backgrounds, working with
local food banks and housing authorities, and offering free taxpreparation services.
Institutions can also collaborate with non-profit organizations
such as the College and University Food Bank Alliance, Single
Stop, and the Center for Working Families to help students access
existing social-safety-net resources.
Changes to federal and state policies that increase access to food
stamps or extend the school lunch program to college students
could better support students with financial need.
ost Americans agree that the current high
price of college attendance renders it unaffordable, even for middle-class families
with students enrolled in the public sector. Costs have risen and subsidies have
declined, while real wages for earners outside of the top five
percent have fallen.
Despite massive public investments in financial aid, students from families earning an average of just $20,000 a
year are now required to pay at least $8,000 for one year of
community college and more than $12,000 a year at a public
university (Goldrick-Rab & Kendall, 2014). That “net price”
www.changemag.org
is what these students face after all grants (including the
Pell and state and institutional grants) are subtracted from
the cost of attending college. This price has gone up substantially over time, particularly since the Great Recession,
and it is often impossible to cover entirely with federal loans
(Goldrick-Rab, 2016).
What happens when economically insecure people enroll
in college, partly enticed by offers of financial aid, and
then face prices that are beyond their reach? Since 2008,
researchers at the Wisconsin HOPE Lab have posed this
question in studies conducted in Wisconsin and across the
nation. The answer, we have learned, is that even though they
17
often work, a growing number of low-income students also
experience food and housing insecurity.
These material hardships affect learning and the effort
that can be devoted to school. They compromise students’
chances for degree completion and affect the institutions in
which the students enroll (Broton, Frank, & Goldrick-Rab,
2014; Goldrick-Rab, 2016). While higher education has
focused on helping the poor attend college—succeeding in
placing almost 10 million Pell Grant recipients into colleges
and universities—it has inadequately addressed the conditions of poverty confronting students as they pursue degrees.
Doing Without
When people lack a minimal level of basic goods such as
food and shelter, they are said to confront “material hardship.” Available data suggest that the incidence of food
and housing insecurity is now greater among college students than it is in the general population (Broton, Frank, &
Goldrick-Rab, 2014). Although prevalence rates vary across
colleges, even students attending Ivy League universities
with full financial-aid packages report going without food
and struggling with hunger (Jack, 2015).
A New York University student reports,
I live on $2.00 to $5.00 dollars a day. That means two
meals a day, and incredibly unhealthy food. I’m hungry
all the time. Being so hungry while you’re trying to
work two jobs to pay your rent and still keep up with
your coursework is practically impossible—and more
common than you would ever think at a university like
this. (NYU Faculty, 2015)
Approximately half of all Pell Grant recipients are from
families living below the official poverty line. In addition,
evidence from a study by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab indicates
that one in four Pell grantees grew up in families where at
least sometimes there was not enough food to eat at home
Even students attending Ivy League
universities with full financial-aid
packages report going without
food and struggling with hunger.
18
(Goldrick-Rab, 2016). That study followed 3,000 students
from low-income families who enrolled in a public two- or
four-year college or university in the state of Wisconsin
shortly after graduating from high school (see www.wihopelab.com for details).
When we surveyed students during their first semester of
college, nearly 90 percent indicated that they were upset or
worried about not having enough money to pay for the things
they needed in order to attend college; 78 percent stated that
they were having difficulty paying their bills.
To make ends meet, students:
• cut back on social activities (80 percent)
• changed their food shopping or eating habits (71 percent)
• cut back or stopped driving (48 percent)
• borrowed money or used credit cards more (39 percent)
• increased the amount of time spent working (38 percent)
• postponed medical or dental care (24 percent)
• put off paying bills (24 percent)
• reduced utility usage (23 percent)
• went without a computer (19 percent)
• did not buy all required books or supplies (15 percent)
When we followed up with these same students a year
later, 27 percent reported that in the past month, they did
not have enough money to buy food, ate less than they felt
they should, or cut the size of their meals. Seven percent had
recently gone without eating for an entire day (GoldrickRab, 2016).
Unsurprisingly, students who reported that they had grown
up in food-insecure households were more likely to report
experiences of hunger in college than were other Pell grantees (Mai, 2014).
The results of our study are not unique. An earlier survey at the University of Hawaii, for example, reported that
21 percent of students had reduced their food intake due to
resource limitations in the prior year. An additional 24 percent reported anxiety about their food supply due to a lack of
money (Chaparro, Zaghloul, Holck, & Dobbs, 2009).
A recent survey of more than 4,000 undergraduates at
10 community colleges across seven states indicates that
approximately half of students are food insecure, including 20 percent who had gone hungry in the last month
(Goldrick-Rab, Broton, & Eisenberg, 2015).
Across these studies, the risk of food insecurity is
unevenly distributed. At the City University of New York, for
instance, 39 percent of students had experienced food insecurity in the prior year, but those at an increased risk include
(Freudenberg et al., 2011):
Change • January/February 2016
• students with fair or poor health (56 percent incidence
rate)
• those with incomes under $20,000 (55 percent)
• Hispanic students (48 percent)
• Black students (42 percent)
• financially independent students (46 percent)
• students who work 20 or more hours per week
(44 percent)
Young adults are especially at risk for housing insecurity
because they often lack a rental history, enough savings for
a security deposit, or someone who can act as a guarantor
(Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University,
2011; Dworsky et al,. 2012; Wilder Research, 2008).
According to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA), 58,000 college students are homeless, although
this is certainly an underestimate due to the reporting
requirements and concerns about stigma (NAEHCY, 2014).
In our Wisconsin HOPE Lab study, one-quarter of twoyear college students indicated that they were unable to pay
utility bills, and an additional 24 percent couldn’t pay rent
within the past year. Four-year college students were half as
likely to report trouble paying rent and utilities.
Results from a survey of undergraduates attending 10
community colleges indicates that half of students are housing insecure, including 13 percent who were homeless in
the past year (Goldrick-Rab, Broton, & Eisenberg, 2015).
Similarly, 42 percent of students at the City University of
New York are housing insecure (Tsui et al., 2011). In both
studies, students who experienced food insecurity were at
greater risk of housing insecurity, and vice versa.
Hurting Chances of College Completion
Material hardship seems to inhibit educational attainment. While there have not been studies (yet) measuring the
impact of food and housing insecurity on college attainment,
research from K-12 education and descriptive work in higher
education is clear.
For example, one study found that college students who
report struggling to get enough food to eat are 22 percent
less likely to earn a 3.5–4.0 GPA rather than a 2.0–2.49
GPA, after controlling for other background factors (Maroto,
Snelling, & Linck, 2015). Madeline Pumariega, now chancellor of the Florida University System, explained why Miami
Dade College had taken steps to alleviate food insecurity in
an interview we did when she was president of the college’s
Wolfson campus (Goldrick-Rab, Broton, and Gates, 2013):
When a student is hungry, he does not feel safe, and
it is hard to help him synthesize material. We have to
meet students’ basic needs in order for them to fully
concentrate on assimilating the information in a class in
a way that they can apply it, learn, and take it forward.
Here, Pumariega was reflecting knowledge gained by
practitioners around the country who work directly with
undergraduates.
www.changemag.org
One in four CUNY students—
approximately 60,000
individuals—are both
food and housing insecure.
It can be very difficult to focus on school when you are
unsure where you will sleep at night. In 2008, for example, we met “Anne,” a student in the Wisconsin Scholars
Longitudinal Study. Anne went to college in Milwaukee to
obtain the skills to find a good job and a better life for herself and her mother. She had grown up in public housing
as her mother cycled on and off assistance from the state,
struggling to hold a job while coping with lupus, a chronic
disease.
Anne had attended one of the city’s better high schools,
where she completed an International Baccalaureate program, before enrolling in the public four-year college. She
was adjusting well to college life. Then the manager of
the apartment building where she lived with her mother
informed her that, by enrolling in school full-time, she had
violated the terms of the family’s subsidized housing.
Anne did not know what policy dictated this situation but
thought it might have to do with perceptions of undergraduate behavior. In fact, Anne may have run up against her local
public housing authority’s definition of eligibility, which deprioritized full-time students.
If the idea of this policy was to prevent people from taking
advantage of public housing, it made little sense in Anne’s
case. She was not a student seeking a new, inexpensive
place to live for a few years but rather a long-term resident
who had lived in the building for years and who had very
few assets of her own—and little ability to make significant
money without a college degree.
Anne could see no recourse, so she switched to taking
classes part-time. Her college academic advisor issued a letter for her to give to her landlord, proving she had done this.
Yet it seems that no one at Anne’s school, including her advisor or financial-aid counselor, called the housing authority in
an effort to clarify the situation or intervene.
Such a call may have allowed Anne to maintain full-time
status but, as a part-time student, Anne received much less
grant aid and was concerned about the extra time it would
take to earn a degree. She spoke with her advisor about her
concerns on several occasions; she did not know whom else
to turn to. There did not seem to be any support at her college for this type of problem.
Anne had few options. If she worked, her income could
disqualify her—and her mother—from receiving the housing
subsidy, which they needed to make ends meet.
19
A year later, Anne’s mom was hospitalized, and Anne was
struggling to juggle all of her responsibilities. Around this
same time, the apartment manager reappeared, telling her
that she could now enroll full-time. Anne did not trust this
information and did not go through with the paperwork and
hassle to switch again.
Anne’s feelings of confusion and distrust were neither
uncommon nor unusual, but they had significant implications. For each additional semester she stayed in school, the
costs mounted and the odds of completing a degree diminished.
The last time we saw Anne was at the start of her third
year of college. She was trying to work a little but not too
much, since she needed money to pay the bills but did not
want to make too much and be disqualified from her housing or her financial aid. She seemed on track with school.
Subsequent administrative records indicate that she remained
continuously enrolled until spring 2014. But then she left,
without a degree in hand.
Institutional Practices
We have met with administrators, faculty, and staff in colleges across the nation who are working to directly support
students who are struggling to meet their basic needs.
Our research suggests that the most strategic college leaders take a local approach. They investigate the specific needs
of their students and draw on the strengths of the college and
community to help meet those challenges.
Students and staff can readily point to policies that create
bottlenecks and break points for food- and housing-insecure
people. For example, the start of the school year can be
especially stressful for students of limited financial means.
Full tuition and fees are typically due at the same time that
students need to buy school supplies and possibly put down
a security deposit for housing accommodations.
A lack of savings or a delay in financial-aid disbursement means that students are unable to make ends meet. The
repercussions, such as being dropped from class rosters or
losing an apartment, can be devastating (Rivera, 2015).
Several colleges have adapted their policies or put lowcost programs in place to address these concerns. For
instance, one college implemented an interest-free shortterm loan program for students who expect to receive financial aid but who have a delayed payment, so that the late
timing of the aid does not derail the students’ educational
plans. The financial-aid office administers the program to
streamline the process and ensure that the program poses a
low financial risk to the college.
Similarly, another college implemented an interest-free
book-loan program, regardless of financial-aid status.
Officials at this college recognized that many students
work their way through school and do not have the lump
sum needed at the beginning of the term but could manage
smaller monthly payments.
Other schools we visited chose to change the rules regarding due dates or the consequences of late payment. For
example, one college shifted the due date for fees by several
20
The start of the school year can be
especially stressful for students of
limited financial means.
weeks to allow students more time to work and earn money
in order to make the payment. Another institution pushed
back the date on which a student is dropped from class rosters for non-payment.
Some colleges have hired individuals with backgrounds in
social work or who have prior work experiences with individuals whose basic needs are not being met to fill critical
student-service positions on campus.
In these examples, college leaders and their teams
reviewed and adapted policies or procedures to better serve
students from low-income and poor families while maintaining the financial health and integrity of their institutions.
College leaders also turn to their communities to create
partnerships that support poor college students. One of the
more common arrangements is for a local food bank or pantry to serve students on campus. According to the College
and University Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA), some pantries
operate out of a closet one day a week, while others supply
upwards of 50,000 pounds of food per year, with regular
distributions. One college we visited coordinates with the
college’s culinary arts program to provide healthy-cooking
demonstrations in partnership with the food bank.
Students emphasize the importance of co-locating community services, such as a food bank, on campus. This
reduces not only time and transportation costs but the stigma
associated with accessing these supports. Students report an
increased sense of belonging and integration with the college when officials advertise poverty-alleviation supports as
just another student support service—along with academic
advising, tutoring, or free flu shots—rather than as a supplemental service for marginalized students.
In addition to food pantries, some colleges work with
their school cafeterias and food vendors to support students
who are food insecure. At some colleges, this means that the
administration purchases discounts meal vouchers, which
it then distributes to students via different programs or services.
In other cases, student organizations work with food
vendors to save surplus edible food that would otherwise
be thrown out each night. Although these food-rescue programs often look beyond the local college when deciding
where to donate recovered food, more are realizing that the
leftover food could be distributed to college students in need
(Environmental Protection Agency, 2014).
Finally, some students and college officials are encouraging on-campus food vendors to accept food stamps or
Change • January/February 2016
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits
(Song, 2015). Again, the students we talked with described
feelings of alienation when the college cafeteria or food vendor refused to accept their food stamps.
Many of the colleges we visited provide free on-campus
tax-preparation services to students (this is especially common at institutions utilizing the services of Single Stop).
In comparison to food and shelter, this may not seem like
a particularly pressing need for college students. But free
tax-preparation services save students hundreds of dollars
that many spend on professional filing fees. They also ensure
that students receive all eligible higher education credits and
exemptions for low-income families (e.g., Earned Income
Tax Credit).
And these services encourage early filing of the FAFSA,
because completed tax documents are a required part of the
application. Colleges that offer tax and FAFSA preparation services in tandem promote timely completion of the
FAFSA. This increases the odds that eligible low-income
students will receive all of their grant aid, as states often run
out of need-based financial aid before all eligible students
receive support (e.g., Cohen, 2012).
Several colleges we visited collaborate with the Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance program. This is an Internal Revenue
Service initiative that offers free tax-preparation services for
low-income individuals, and provides the service on campus.
Other colleges rely on local partnerships or trained business
students to become certified tax preparers.
In addition to these case-management services, Single
Stop provides free financial counseling and legal and taxpreparation services. The multi-pronged intervention is
based on the idea that the combination of cash and noncash benefits obtained in a timely and efficient manner,
along with additional information and counseling support,
can substantially improve retention and graduation rates.
Preliminary evidence suggests that the program is working; with a credential in hand, students are much better
positioned to obtain a good job and a more secure financial
future (Single Stop, 2015).
The Center for Working Families, supported by the Annie
E. Casey Foundation, takes a similar approach in collaborating with community colleges. It provides students with a
coordinated set of services, including employment and careeradvancement services, income and work supports (e.g., public
benefits and tax-preparation assistance), and financial services
and asset-building supports. Like Single Stop, the program
continues to expand, and preliminary results are positive. A
greater proportion of community college students served by
the Center for Working Families persist in college (80–85 percent) compared to the overall college persistence rate (66–70
percent) (Liston & Donnan, 2012).
Both of these organizations do more than serve students.
They also change the institutional culture of the college by
reimagining the role of student services. In this new vision,
comprehensive supports, including those helping students
access the existing public safety net, are the norm.
Getting Help
A Role for Federal and State Policy
The IRS program is not the only partnership that some
colleges have established with non-profit organizations.
CUFBA, for example, was formed to help more than 200
institutions coordinate food pantries on campus to help meet
the demand for nutritionally adequate food. Other colleges
have partnered with non-profit organizations such as Single
Stop or the Center for Working Families, which draw on
existing social safety-net resources to help students attain
financial stability and move up the economic ladder by providing comprehensive supports that promote degree attainment.
Single Stop originated as a community-based organization
helping low-income individuals and families access food
pantries, shelters, health centers, and job-training sites. In
2009, Single Stop launched its Community College Initiative
and began providing similar poverty-alleviation supports to
students and their families on college campuses.
The organization works with colleges to create a one-stop
campus center with resources from the college and community, where students who are struggling to make ends meet
can go for support. Using proprietary technology, students
are screened to determine their eligibility for federal, state,
and local public benefits such as food stamps or health
insurance. On average, we estimate that eligible students
receive an additional $5,400 in cash and non-cash benefits—
an amount nearly equivalent to the maximum Pell Grant
(Goldrick-Rab, Broton, & Gates, 2013).
At the federal level, educational and social policies have
not caught up to the challenge. The current social safety net
typically excludes college students with financial need from
receiving support. This is true even though receipt of public benefits promotes academic progress. And it’s true even
though a college education is one of the most effective ways
to reduce material hardship and future reliance on social
benefits (Price et al., 2014). This makes it harder to reach
national educational and economic goals (Goldrick-Rab,
Broton, & Eisenberg, 2015).
Advocates for change are working to remedy problems
such as work requirements for food stamps, which make it
difficult for undergraduates to receive that support while in
school, or financial-aid questions that require students to
“prove” that they are homeless in order to render them eligible for additional support.
www.changemag.org
The current social safety net
typically excludes college
students with financial need
from receiving support.
21
While many young people rely on the National Free and
Reduced Price Lunch Program during elementary and secondary school, upon transitioning to college they find themselves facing high prices with no such support. This has led
Professor Wick Sloane (2013) of Bunker Hill Community
College to write letters to federal officials asking for help. To
quote from one of those letters:
One peanut butter sandwich per school day for each of
the nine million students on a Pell grant. How many of
these are the same students who were eligible for free
and reduced lunch in high school? No one knows and
no one is counting. How many are from households on
food stamps? No one’s asking, either. Why not, then,
45 million peanut butter sandwiches at colleges each
week? Until we come up with a better idea.
In recent testimony to the National Commission on
Hunger, we echoed his calls and formalized a request for
federal action to extend that program to the nation’s community colleges (Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2015).
Meeting students’ housing needs may be even more difficult than providing food or tax assistance. Federal housing
assistance is not an entitlement program. Scholars estimate
that just one-quarter of families who need housing support actually receive it (Broton & Goldrick-Rab, 2014).
Moreover, college students’ eligibility for housing assistance
is restricted (HUD, 2015a).
The Tacoma Community College Housing Assistance
Program provides one model for colleges seeking ways to
help support housing-insecure students. In partnership with
the local housing authority, the community college provides
Housing Choice Vouchers to full-time students who maintain
a 2.0 GPA and are homeless or at serious risk of homelessness. Many of the students are part of a workforce-development program and must participate in support services.
Results after one year are preliminary, but promising. Of
the 22 students to receive a housing voucher, 21 (95 percent)
remain enrolled in college. In comparison, 24 percent (35
out of 146) of eligible participants who were on the waiting
list persisted in college (Tacoma Housing Authority, 2015).
The architects of this program emphasize a triple bottom
line, saying, “This project is an effort to spend a housing
dollar not just to house someone and their family but to get
Meeting students’ housing needs
may be even more difficult than
providing food or tax assistance.
22
Change • January/February 2016
two other things done: help them succeed in school and promote the success of schools that serve low-income students”
(HUD 2015a, p. 7). Currently, officials from the federal
Department of Housing and Urban Development are working with colleges and universities to determine better ways to
support college students (HUD, 2015b).
The Most Critical Steps: Getting Informed and
Getting Help
Higher education leaders vary in their knowledge and
skills regarding direct poverty-alleviation initiatives. Many
we interviewed explained that the higher education programs
that trained them to be deans or chancellors had actually
prepared them to be leaders of 20th-century colleges rather
than innovators who respond to the challenges faced by 21stcentury college students.
But these college leaders argue that helping students meet
their basic needs is not only the right thing to do morally but
also has instrumental purposes by helping colleges retain and
graduate more students. Moreover, those who earn a college
credential improve their economic prospects, which is good
for the community and society. As one college president said:
If students do not have a safe place to live, food to eat,
or a way to get to school, they cannot do their best in
the classroom. There are these moments where you
are going to continue in college or life is going to get
in the way… It is not like they dropped their iPod or
phone in the toilet. It is real. There are students that
are studying under candlelight because they have not
paid their utility bill, and they are still trying to persist.
If we do not address some of those issues, they get in
the way of the education process. So at the core of our
work is this educational mission. (Broton, Frank, &
Goldrick-Rab, 2014)
Advocacy groups, including the American Council on
Education, have called attention to the high rate of food
insecurity on college campuses. They are working with their
members to share best practices and promote state- and
federal-level policy changes (Nellum, 2015).
Students across the nation are organizing and demanding
that their basic needs be met. Proposals for tuition-free and
debt-free college underscore the economic pressures faced
by American families today and the opportunity for higher
education to promote a basic standard of living (e.g., The
White House, 2015).
A truly affordable college system would go a long way
in reducing the poverty experiences of college students.
Coordination with the social safety net would bring about
even greater opportunities for all Americans to pursue a
higher education, regardless of economic background. C
Resources
n Broton, K., Frank, V., & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2014). Safety, security, and college attainment: An investigation of
undergraduates’ basic needs and institutional response. Madison, WI: Wisconsin HOPE Lab.
n Broton, K., & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2014). The problem of college students without reliable housing. Cambridge, MA:
Scholars Strategy Network Policy Brief.
n Broton, K., & Goldrick-Rab, S. (2015). Public testimony on hunger in higher education. Submitted to the National
Hunger Commission. Madison, WI: Wisconsin HOPE Lab.
n Chaparro, M. P., Zaghloul, S. S., Holck, P., & Dobbs, J. (2009). Food insecurity prevalence among college students
at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Public Health Nutrition, 12(11), 2097–2103.
n Coalition for University Food Bank Alliances. (2015). Retrieved from www.cufba.org
n Cohen, J. (2012, March 21). State runs out of financial aid for college students. Chicago Tribune.
n Dworsky, A., Dillman, K-N., Dion, M. R., Coffee-Borden, B-D., & Rosenau, M. (2012). Housing for youth aging
out of foster care: A review of the literature and program typology. Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research.
n Environmental Protection Agency. (2014). Feed families, not landfills. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/wastes/
conserve/foodwaste/fd-donate.htm
n Freudenberg, N., Manzo, L., Jones, H., Kwan, A., Tsui, E., & Gagnon, M. (2011). Food insecurity at CUNY:
Results from a survey of CUNY undergraduate students. New York, NY: Healthy CUNY Initiative, City University of
New York.
n Goldrick-Rab, S. (forthcoming, 2016). Paying the price: College costs, financial aid, and the betrayal of the
American dream. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
www.changemag.org
23
Resources (cont’d.)
n Goldrick-Rab, S., Broton, K., & Eisenberg, D. (2015). Hungry to learn: Addressing food and housing insecurity
among undergraduates. Madison, WI: Wisconsin HOPE Lab.
n Goldrick-Rab, S., Broton, K., & Gates, C. (2013). Clearing the path to a brighter future: Addressing barriers to
community college access and success. Washington, DC: Association of Community College Trustees and Single Stop
USA.
n Goldrick-Rab, S., & Kendall, N. (2014). F2CO. Redefining college affordability: Securing America’s future with a
free two year college option. Indianapolis, IN: Lumina Foundation.
n Housing and Urban Development. (2015a, February) Barriers to success: Housing insecurity for U.S. college students. Washington, DC: Office of Policy Development and Research.
n Housing and Urban Development. (2015b, Sept. 6). Community college student housing insecurity. Washington,
DC: Office of Policy Development and Research Expert Convening.
n Jack, A. A. (2015, April 24). “I, too, am hungry”: An examination of structural exclusion at an elite university.
Invited presentation at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
n Joint Center for Housing Studies. (2011). America’s rental housing: Meeting challenges, building on opportunities.
Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College.
n Lindsley, K., & King, C. (2014). Food insecurity of campus-residing Alaskan college students. Journal of the
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 9(114), A94.
n Liston, C. & Donnan, R. (2012). Center for Working Families at community colleges: Clearing the financial barriers to student success. Durham, NC: MDC.
n Mai, M. (2014). Hunger in higher education: Food insecurity among Wisconsin low-income undergraduates.
Unpublished master’s thesis, Department of Educational Policy Studies. University of Wisconsin–Madison.
n Maroto, M. E., Snelling, A., & Linck, H. (2015). Food insecurity among community college students: Prevalence
and association with grade point average. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 39(6), 515-526.
n National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. (2014). Financial aid for unaccompanied
homeless youth: A survey report. Washington, D.C.: National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
n Nellum, C. (2015, June 29). Fighting food insecurity on campus. Higher Education Today. Retrieved from www.
higheredtoday.org
n NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan. (2015). The art of the gouge. Retrieved from http://nyufasp.com/the-art-ofthe-gouge-how-nyu-squeezes-billions-from-our-students-and-where-that-money-goes-2/
n Price, D., Long, M., Quast, S., McMaken, J., & Kioukis, G. (2014). Public benefits and community colleges:
Lessons from the benefits access for college completion evaluation. Philadelphia, PA: OMG Center for Collaborative
Learning.
n Rivera, C. (2015, Aug. 3). Some college students on financial aid don’t get it in time to pay fees. LA Times.
n Single Stop. (2015). Retrieved from www.singlestopusa.org
n Sloane, W. (2013, December 20). Lunch for 9 million? Inside Higher Ed.
n Song, J. (2015, Aug. 3). Rise in college food banks linked to the economy and campus demographics. LA Times.
n Tacoma Housing Authority. (2015, September 11). Tacoma Community College Housing Assistance Program: A
summary. Retrieved from www.tacomahousing.net
n Tsui, E., Freudenberg, N., Manzo, L., Jones, H., Kwan, A., & Gagnon, M. (2011). Housing instability at CUNY:
Results from a survey of CUNY undergraduate students. New York, NY: Healthy CUNY Initiative, City University of
New York.
n The White House. (2015, Jan. 9). White House unveils America’s College Promise proposal: Tuition-free community college for responsible students. Press Release.
n Wilder Research. (2008). Overview of young and young adult homelessness in Minnesota: Facts and analysis of
data from the 2006 statewide study. St. Paul, MN: Author.
24
Change • January/February 2016
Doctoral Programs in
Higher Education
Prepare to Make a Difference
Azusa Pacific University’s doctoral programs in higher education comprise a community of scholar-disciples
preparing transformational leaders to help shape colleges and universities across the globe.
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Higher Education
Prepares academic leaders to conduct, interpret, and communicate original research to contribute
to the policy and practice of higher education.
Cohort-based hybrid program.
Two-week residential intensives twice a year for four years.
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Higher Education Leadership
Trains student affairs professionals to serve as effective leaders in the rapidly changing
world of higher education.
Three-year, cohort-based program.
Campus visits one week in June and one weekend a month.
Learn more! Visit apu.edu/bas/highered/.
701 E. Foothill Blvd., Azusa, CA 91702 • Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC)
17777
17777_Change_Mag.indd 1
7/6/15 1:28 PM
Copyright of Change is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be
copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's
express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.
Report / Rapport
A Comparison of Characteristics and Food
Insecurity Coping Strategies between
International and Domestic Postsecondary
Students Using a Food Bank Located on a
University Campus
MAHITAB HANBAZAZA, PhDa; GEOFF D.C. BALL, PhD, RDb; ANNA P. FARMER, PhD, RDa; KATERINA MAXIMOVA, PhDc;
JASMINE FARAHBAKHSH, MSca; NOREEN D. WILLOWS, PhDa
a
Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB; bDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB;
School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
c
ABSTRACT
RÉSUMÉ
Purpose: We compared food insecurity status, coping strategies, demographic characteristics, and self-rated health of international and
domestic postsecondary students requesting emergency food hampers
from a campus food bank (CFB).
Methods: We collected data from a cross-sectional convenience sample of domestic and international students who accessed the CFB at
the University of Alberta.
Results: Food insecurity was prevalent (international students:
n = 26/27 (96.2%), domestic students: n = 31/31 (100%)).
Compared with their domestic peers, international students were less
likely to rate their mental health negatively (14.8% vs 38.7%,
P = 0.04). The primary income source was government loans (54.8%)
for domestic students and research assistantships (33.3%) for
international students. To cope with not having enough money for
food, the majority of both student groups delayed bill payments or
buying university supplies, applied for loans or bursaries, purchased
food on credit, or worked more. International students were less likely
to ask friends or relatives for food (48.1% vs 77.4%, P = 0.02).
Conclusions: Domestic and international students mostly used similar
coping strategies to address food insecurity; however, they paid for
their education using different income sources. Distinct strategies for
international and domestic students are required to allow more
students to cover their educational and living expenses.
Objectif : Nous avons comparé le statut d’insécurité alimentaire, les
stratégies d’adaptation, les caractéristiques démographiques et l’état
de santé auto-évalué d’étudiants postsecondaires canadiens et internationaux qui avaient recours aux paniers alimentaires d’urgence de
la banque d’alimentation de leur campus universitaire (BAC).
Méthodes : Nous avons recueilli des données auprès d’un échantillon
de commodité transversal d’étudiants canadiens et étrangers qui faisaient appel à la BAC de l’Université de l’Alberta.
Résultats : L’insécurité alimentaire était prévalente (étudiants internationaux : n = 26/27 [96,2 %]; étudiants locaux : n = 31/31 [100 %]).
Comparativement à leurs collègues canadiens, les étudiants étrangers
étaient moins susceptibles de qualifier leur santé mentale de mauvaise
(14,8 % vs 38,7 %; p = 0,04). La principale source de revenus était les
prêts gouvernementaux (54,8 %) pour les étudiants canadiens et les
postes d’assistant à la recherche (33,3 %) pour les étudiants
étrangers. Pour compenser le manque d’argent pour se nourrir, la plupart des étudiants, peu importe leur origine, retardaient le paiement
de factures ou l’achat de matériel universitaire, demandaient des
prêts et bourses, achetaient des aliments à crédit ou travaillaient
davantage. Par ailleurs, les étudiants internationaux étaient moins susceptibles de demander de la nourriture à leurs amis ou à leur famille
(48,1 % vs 77,4 %; p = 0,02).
Conclusions : Les étudiants canadiens et étrangers utilisaient en
grande partie des stratégies similaires pour composer avec
l’insécurité alimentaire. Cependant, ils se servaient de sources de revenus différentes pour payer leurs études. Des stratégies distinctes pour
les étudiants canadiens et étrangers sont nécessaires pour permettre
à un plus grand nombre d’entre eux de couvrir les dépenses liées à leur
éducation et à leur vie courante.
(Can J Diet Pract Res. 2017;78:208–211)
(DOI: 10.3148/cjdpr-2017-012)
Published at dcjournal.ca on 24 May 2017
(Rev can prat rech diétét. 2017;78:208–211)
(DOI: 10.3148/cjdpr-2017-012)
Publié au dcjournal.ca le 24 mai 2017
INTRODUCTION
Food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food
due to financial constraints [1]. It can have detrimental effects
on health and well-being [1, 2]. Due to declining public funding for postsecondary education, tuition and compulsory fee
increases have become a common strategy to cover
university-operating revenues; consequently, students from
low- and middle-income households are vulnerable to food
208
Revue canadienne de la pratique et de la recherche en diététique – Vol. 78, 2017
insecurity [3]. Food-insecure students are more likely to have
indications of poor health compared with their food-secure
peers [4, 5]. Universities are increasing enrollment of
international students, in part to generate revenue through
international tuition fees [6]. The potential for food insecurity
may be higher among international students because they pay
higher tuition fees than domestic students, have restrictions
on their student visas that limit employment opportunities,
Report / Rapport
and are ineligible to receive many Canadian federal and provincial loans, scholarships, and bursaries to support their
education [6].
Research conducted in Canada, the United States, and
Australia suggests that students vulnerable to food insecurity
use food and income management strategies and social and
community support to help them to acquire food [4, 5, 7].
Students may access emergency food hampers or food items
from a food bank located on their campus as 1 option to cope
with food insecurity [8]. Severe coping strategies such as stealing have been reported [7]. Many of the strategies used to
obtain food could negatively affect students’ health, academic
performance, and future employment prospects.
In 1991, the first Canadian campus food bank (CFB)
opened at the University of Alberta (UAlberta) in Edmonton.
Today, most postsecondary institutions across Canada have
food banks, possibly due to the increased financial pressures
faced by postsecondary students [9]. The disproportionately
high number of international students who seek emergency
food aid suggests that food insecurity is common among this
group of students. For example, while 14% of all UAlberta students are international students, 33% of student clients of the
UAlberta CFB are international students [8]. Considering the
over-representation of international students among food
bank users, we conducted a study to compare the food
insecurity status, demographic characteristics, self-rated
health, and food insecurity coping strategies of international
and domestic students receiving charitable food donations
from UAlberta CFB.
METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of
student clients of the UAlberta CFB. Two graduate students
recruited participants from April 2013 to April 2014 by
approaching them at the food bank during peak hours of
usage to complete an interviewer-administered survey. The
survey queried food security status over the past 30 days using
the 10-item Adult Food Security Survey Module, demographic
characteristics, self-rated mental and physical health using
questions from the Canadian Community Health Survey, and
food insecurity coping strategies particular to students as
described elsewhere [7]. Food security responses were coded
using the Health Canada method to provide information
about the percentage of students who lived in marginal, moderate, and severely food-insecure households [1]. Responses
between domestic and international students were compared
using χ 2 , Fisher’s exact test, and Mann–Whitney U test.
A P value
Purchase answer to see full
attachment