Food Assistance Put on Table for Low-Income College Students

The National School Lunch Program — the federally assisted and state-administered program that provides free or reduced price meals to millions of children in school and after-school programs — should be expanded to serve low-income college students as a means of boosting their chances of earning a degree.

That’s the key argument of a new proposal being presented this week at a national conference on housing and food insecurity among undergraduates.

“Investing in college students by offering them the food assistance they need to do well in school has immense long-term potential,” states the proposal, developed by the Wisconsin Hope Lab, a policy and research organization at the University of Wisconsin that is devoted to issues that confront low-income students.

“It will likely improve college attainment and reduce future dependency on the social safety net,” the proposal states.

The proposal would cost an estimated $4 billion annually to provide food assistance to approximately 7 million Pell grant recipients, thereby increasing the number of participants by about one quarter of the 30.5 million young people who currently participate in the program.

Sara Goldrick-Rab, author of the policy proposal and founding director of the Wisconsin Hope Lab, said while there are no concrete plans to make the proposal a reality, it represents an important first step in trying to garner support for the idea to make sure college students do not go hungry.

“I believe good policymaking starts with bold ideas based on evidence,” Goldrick-Rab said. “Then we move to build consensus and act.”