Filling theFood Gap How the University is addressing food insecurity among its students By Maria Ly '20
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llen is much like every other student at Minnesota State Mankato. She’s a full-time student in interdisciplinary studies, has a part-time job in retail, a scholarship and is on track to graduating in a couple of years. But Ellen has been hiding a secret from her friends, family, classmates and professors. Her secret is that she is food insecure. And there are many others on campus like her—more than one might think. Food insecurity, defined by the University’s Department of Sociology, is a lack of reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable food. Students facing food insecurity may not have enough money, reliable transportation, access or time to get the food they need. A study done at Minnesota State Mankato by the 2018 Sociology in Action class found that two-thirds of students face food insecurity in some way. The national average is 47 percent in a four-year university. It’s been part of Ellen’s college life since its start. “When I started college, my parents said they’d help pay for groceries and that they’d help pay for school, but I never got any help from them,” she says. “I didn’t have a job for a while when I first started college. Money was tight, and even when I got a job, I just couldn’t make enough money to afford things, especially food.” Students such as Ellen have faced increasing tuition rates, high costs of living and struggles with balancing work and school. Something often has to give— and it’s often getting enough to eat.
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Now and Then In 1980, when the minimum wage in Minnesota was $2.90, the average annual rate for tuition and fees at Minnesota State Mankato was $714. It would take a college student during that time 246.2 hours of working to pay for school—about a summer’s worth of working a part-time job. By contrast, the state’s minimum wage in 2020 is $10. With tuition and fees averaging $8,521 per year, it would take a Minnesota State Mankato student half a year of working part-time to pay off their yearly cost of education. And the expenses don’t end there. Ellen has found that supporting herself financially has become increasingly difficult each year she attends college. To cut costs, Ellen had no choice but to cut back on food. “I remember, there was one night specifically last January, I remember driving home from work and wondering if I could find enough coins in my car to go buy some ramen from the store so I could eat,” she says.
Solutions on Campus Early in the 2019-2020 school year, Ellen learned of a number of resources at the University and in the community to help meet her nutritional needs. After applying for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), where students can get help through monthly food benefits and by the community’s food shelf, she found herself improving in her academics and health.
