Last week, campuses scrambled to stock up on resources as 42 million Americans, including more than 1 million college students, prepared to lose federal aid to buy food. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments were not sent out on the first of the month as usual during the ongoing government shutdown.
Now, the Trump administration plans to release some, but not all, of the benefits this month in response to two federal court orders.
In court documents filed Monday, the Trump administration agreed to use emergency reserves this month to pay out some benefits, but said the funds would cover only half of current benefits for eligible households. For at least some states, payments can take months to complete due to bureaucratic hurdles.
Erika Roberson, senior policy associate at the Institute for College Access and Success, said she worries students who rely on SNAP will still get less food than they need.
“Some food just isn’t enough, especially when students are deciding between finding their next meal and studying for exams,” Robertson said in a statement. Inside higher education. “Food shouldn’t be a luxury, but sadly, that’s the situation many college students find themselves in today.”
While some benefit is better than no benefit, some questions remain unanswered. Mark Huelsman, director of policy and advocacy at Temple University’s Hope Center for Basic Student Needs, said it’s unclear whether all SNAP recipients will receive half their benefits this month or whether some will receive less than others. He also expected payments to be delayed.
“I think campuses, food pantries and community organizations are going to be stretched thin in the coming weeks, even if the courts do the right thing here and step in and make sure that people’s benefits are not completely deprived,” Huesman said.
Campuses ‘prepare for the worst’
Colleges and universities across the country are frantically stocking up on campus food and expanding campus food programs in preparation for the suspension of SNAP.
Southeastern Community College in Nebraska typically holds a food drive for its three campus food pantries in November. But this year, the college started activities a month early in anticipation of a surge in students in need. Jennifer Snyder, communications specialist at Southeastern Community College, said the food pantry on the Lincoln campus has grown from 49 students two years ago to 505 students this September. This number is only expected to grow. The college also plans to launch a fundraising campaign for its emergency scholarship fund in case more students need assistance.
Scaling up those supports comes with challenges, Snyder said. Campus food pantries have been able to stock up in the past by purchasing items at low prices from local food banks, but food banks are keeping more items on hand as they, too, prepare for increased demand. As campus food pantries become increasingly difficult to fill, Snyder worries staff will have to make difficult decisions about how much food students can eat.
“The demand is there, the demand is there, but the supply is dwindling,” Snyder said. “So, how do you make it fair? How do you make it fair for everyone so that everyone has a chance to participate?”
Snyder said the Trump administration’s commitment this month to provide some funding for SNAP did not change the college’s plans.
“If it’s partially funded, that’s a benefit,” she said. But “you just don’t know when it’s going to be taken away, so we should prepare for the worst.”
When Keith Curry, president of Compton College in Los Angeles, realized his students’ SNAP benefits were at risk, he also took immediate action.
The college already provides students with one free meal a day through a partnership with the nonprofit Everytable. Starting Wednesday, the college will provide two free meals a day to students participating in CalFresh, California’s SNAP program, and CalWORKs, the state welfare program for low-income families. Students in CalWORKs will also receive a $50 weekly grocery voucher, while students in either program will receive an additional $20 weekly farmer’s market voucher.
Compton College also has a data-sharing agreement with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services to help the college determine which students are eligible for CalFresh and CalWORKs and provide them with additional supports if they sign a permitted waiver. The college plans to rely on this partnership to validate that more students involved in these programs are now eligible for Compton College’s new support. The college and Everytable are sharing the cost of the additional free meals, and the college plans to reassess the political situation every Friday to determine whether additional measures are still needed.
“We’re moving forward because we don’t know what impact this will have on our students,” Curry said. “We don’t know how much they’re actually going to receive. Our students need us now more than ever. People are waiting for their benefits and they have to figure it out. Students are in a precarious position and they already have other needs.”
The California Community Colleges Foundation expects more than 275,000 students in the system to be affected by delays in SNAP payments, according to an emergency fundraising campaign launched Monday.
Grant Tingley, 41, is one of those students. He is a Cypress College student and an ambassador for the foundation, whose job is to spread the word about student food and housing resources. He himself is a SNAP recipient. In response to SNAP’s failure, he has been working with community organizations and other students to create a database of local food pantries and push for expanded hours for campus food pantries.
Tinley stressed that hunger makes it harder for the most disadvantaged students to focus on their studies. He is also a student worker for Rising Scholars, a program that provides support to students who have been incarcerated, have family members who have been incarcerated, or, like him, are recovering from substance abuse. He worries that these students are particularly at risk of losing academic motivation.
“They are a group of people who have been knocked down over and over again, and sometimes a small obstacle can really become a huge obstacle for them to move forward and keep going,” he said. “Every little obstacle we put in front of these students is almost always a hit or miss.”
The Center for Hope’s Huesman encouraged colleges and universities to continue moving forward with plans to bolster student food support and emergency aid as students shift funds from housing and other necessities to groceries. The Hope Center has also released a guide to help colleges understand how to support students through SNAP benefit interruptions.
Even with partial benefits, “every contingency plan and every preparation that institutions have made to help students get through this is still in effect,” he said. “Students are still experiencing quite significant disruption. And there’s widespread confusion about what’s going to happen next.”
