At least 20% or even possibly 40% of students lack food security

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The amount of American college students that go hungry is around 20-40 percent, but researchers do not quite know when they started to go hungry. By the time serious research into the issue began in 2014 it was a much more serious problem than anyone had anticipated. These percentages seemed to have shocked administrators, but it comes at no surprise to some students. For example, Rachel Sumekh has been working with student hunger since 2009 when she was getting her Bachelor's degree at UCLA and created a nonprofit that helps to alleviate those hunger issues. Sumekh noticed that after the new data came out regarding that between 20-40 percent of students go hungry, more administrators began to become active in what her work was trying to accomplish. 

Locally Portland State University has the COMMITTEE FOR IMPROVING STUDENT FOOD SECURITY which reports that the U.S. has a food insecurity rate of 15.4% and Multnomah county has a rate of 16.1%. The committee is described as “a volunteer committee comprised of PSU faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, community members, undergraduate and graduate students, and international students. The CISFS works collaboratively with other PSU departments, resource centers, and programs to serve as a bridge or liaison for students struggling to meet their basic human needs.” The creation of the CISFS brought the program Harvest Share to PSU in collaboration with The Oregon Food Bank. This program is there to provide fresh food to PSU students. It has also provided assistance to SNAP. 

Nicolas Skorzewski


https://www.pdx.edu/student-access-center/sites/www.pdx.edu.student-access-center/files/PSU-Info_CISFS-SFI-Info_v03.16.2017.pdf


https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3k4d8/colleges-are-finally-taking-student-hunger-seriously

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