“If the college adjusted the prices…”: comparing food secure and insecure college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: We examined how students’ food insecurity related to their demographic information, academic experiences, use of food programs, and reflections on food during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: 246 NYC undergraduates during the first 9 months of the pandemic. Methods: Students reported on food insecurity (eg, USDA’s 10-item AFSSM), household income, impact of food insecurity on academics, GPA, and use of food programs. They wrote two food narratives. Results: 135 (54.88%) participants reported high food security; 51 (20.73%) reported low or very low food security. Compared to high food security students, low and very low-security students were more likely to identify as Black and first-generation immigrants, reported lower household income, more frequently used food programs, had a lower GPA, reported more academic difficulties, and wrote more often about financial and programmatic difficulties related to food. Conclusions: Food-insecure students need greater financial, academic, and programmatic support during public health crises.

Keywords:

• COVID-19 pandemic
• food insecurity
• higher education
• mixed methods
• narratives

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the City University of New York.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Research Foundation through the PSC-CUNY Traditional B #TRADB-53-115 award. This funding paid for the work of the student researchers. Research Foundation of The City University of New York.