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College students who are food insecure are at greater risk for stress, anxiety, and depression and often can’t afford other essentials for their academic success, like textbooks and the internet. In this month’s Higher Ed Careers interview, Dr. Marsha Spence and Dr. Betsy Anderson Steeves — both professors in Public Health Nutrition — discuss the implications of food insecurity on campuses. They also share what their institution is doing to address it and how this work in higher education can help vulnerable populations and communities as a whole.
Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: When a college student is “food insecure” what does this mean at the macro level?
Dr. Betsy Anderson Steeves, University of Tennessee Knoxville: The USDA actually has specific definitions of food insecurity. We typically use these definitions, because they align with the tool that we use to measure food insecurity. The USDA definition states that “food insecurity is a lack of consistent access to enough nutritious and safe food to support an active, healthy life.” What that means in a practical sense is that food-insecure students are experiencing anxiety or stress about having not enough to eat or enough money to buy food; they may be limiting the quality, variety, or acceptability of the foods consumed (for example eating only a small number of low-cost, high-calorie foods); or they may be reducing the amount of food that they eat because they don’t have money to buy more food.
Dr. Marsha Spence, University of Tennessee: When thinking of food insecure students from a macro perspective, we must think of the systems that influence access to affordable foods and the upstream drivers of food insecurity. It is important to think about the economic factors and the policies that either improve or hinder access to food. In recent years, we’ve seen colleges and universities increasing programs and services to help increase food security, such as meal swipe programs, free stores, and on-campus food pantries. These programs, often thought of as emergency food assistance, do help with short-term food insecurity, but don’t really address the underlying causes of chronic food insecurity. We know that first-generation, low-income students are at greater risk for food insecurity, which means we may need to address underlying economic issues associated with food insecurity. If a university has mechanisms to provide tuition assistance for low-income students, but not financial support to allow students to have adequate housing and food, new policies and services may need to be implemented to ensure that these students have the means to meet their basic needs.
Hibel: You both recently conducted a study with results published in the Current Developments in Nutrition. What are some key findings in terms of statistics regarding food insecurity on campuses and what are your thoughts on these numbers?
Anderson Steeves: I think the major takeaway from this study is that the rates of food insecurity across the colleges and universities sampled were from ~23% to 52%. Our university fell in the middle of that range at around 36% for our main campus. These rates are much higher than I expected going into this study, so there are clear opportunities for work to be done in those settings.
The other things we did in these studies were to look at factors related to food insecurity. The most prominent predictor of food security in our study at our university was previous food security status, meaning that if students are food insecure before coming to school – they are much more likely to be food insecure in college too.
Hibel: It was shown through your research that a student’s year in college, in particular being a sophomore or junior, is a factor that can contribute to food insecurity. Please explain this correlation and also describe other factors that have a connection to the risk of a student being food insecure.
Anderson Steeves: This study was a cross-sectional study, which means that we were just able to capture a snapshot of what food insecurity and other factors looked like on the participating campuses at that time. We did find an association with year in school and food insecurity. Specifically in this paper, we found that sophomore or junior standing had a higher risk of food insecurity than the reference group, which in this study was graduate students. In our study that we conducted within our University system, we found slightly different results in that juniors and seniors were most at risk for food insecurity. So, the results are a little unclear.
Either way this study design is a little limited in all that we can conclude with it that these two things are related, but it doesn’t tell us what that relationship is.
Hibel: Now, looking at food insecurity at the micro level, serious implications can be seen for some students facing food insecurity. For example, their grades may suffer, their test scores appear to be lower, and overall their chances of graduating decrease. Dr. Spence, you were quoted in a recent article saying, “These same students usually try to save money on other things to obtain food, such as spending less in transportation, utilities, and sometimes even medication.” What are your thoughts on the implications associated with food insecurity?
Spence: College students who are food insecure face a variety of increased risks, including diet-related chronic diseases and sociopsychological issues, such as stress, anxiety, depression, and even isolation. In addition to these, academic success may suffer. It can be very difficult for low-income students to support themselves while in college, especially if they come from impoverished homes. Oftentimes, their families do not have the means to help them financially. If students don’t have enough money for food, they may not have money for other things essential to their academic success, such as textbooks, the internet, computer software, etc. This puts them at great disadvantage and increases the chance that they will drop out of school. Wrap-around support services, including helping eligible students enroll in federal food assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP), may be needed to increase retention of these students.
Hibel: Dr. Steeves, it was shown in your research that both community college students and four-year public institutions are at risk of food insecurity although it seems not as much attention has been given to four-year institutions in regards to food insecurity on campus. Why do you think this is the case? What type of policies or programs can colleges and universities implement to help reduce food insecurity and help students succeed and do these differ between the types of institutions?
Anderson Steeves: Food insecurity is a major issue on all types of college campuses whether they are community colleges or four-year universities. The publication of a couple of key review papers (Bruening et al.) acknowledges that all types of campuses are struggling with food insecurity, so from the perspective of the academic literature that I am most familiar with there really hasn’t been too much of a difference in talking about food insecurity among college students by school type.
I think we are starting to see some really exciting new programs coming out to help address the issues of food access with this population. At our University there is a near-campus food pantry — and many other campuses have on-campus food pantries, as well as an on-campus “free store” and a store for free business/interview clothing. We also have a program called “Big Orange Meal Share” where students can donate select meal “swipes” on their student dining plan to others in need of short-term assistance. We are in talks about creating a Food App where if there is extra food on campus, for example leftover boxed lunches from a meeting, then that information could be posted to the app and students could come get the leftover food without any questions asked. These are just a few examples, and many more could be added to the list from other innovative college and university programs.
Hibel: Many campuses around the United States have introduced food pantries, but often times there is a negative stigma associated with using these types of services. What can institutions do to reduce this stigma and get buy-in from students who may need it the most?
Anderson Steeves: That is a great question and something that institutions are really working on right now. However, we still have a lot to do in this area on college campuses and in communities as well. Some creative ideas I have heard of is putting the food pantry in the center of campus, and allowing anyone to get food from it, so the experience of using the food pantry is very normative. In a very different direction, a local community college here in Tennessee has an innovative food pantry that offers online ordering so that the pick up of the food parcel is easy and discrete. But I should say that I have yet to see evidence-based strategies to do this, so continued research should be done in these areas.
Hibel: You each have a passion for public health nutrition. What engages you most as you work in this area within higher education?
Anderson Steeves: The part of my work that really drives me is knowing that my research has the potential to help families and communities, and improve access to healthy food, particularly for vulnerable populations.
Spence: I think the thing that excites me most when it comes to public health nutrition and my related research and outreach in the community is that the work we do can lead to changes that help improve policies and systems that affect the health and well-being of people. Changes in these areas take time and energy, but in the end, when you see a success, it is worth the wait and the energy expended.