AUSTIN (KXAN) — The pandemic has elevated the variety of People going to mattress hungry, however one such group experiencing meals insecurity is one you won’t take into consideration: faculty college students.
“I used to be speaking to a scholar final yr who informed me that earlier than they came upon in regards to the meals pantry, they have been consuming one meal a day,” mentioned Liza Manjarrez, principal affiliate director of campus ministry at St. Edwards College.
St. Edwards College lately acquired a $10,000 grant from the Central Texas Meals Financial institution. The cash will go in the direction of restocking the meals pantry, however may even go in the direction of paying two interns to assist college students going through meals insecurity.
“This was totally stocked firstly of December and as you’ll be able to see it’s being put to good use,” Manjarrez mentioned.
Manjarrez mentioned the college has recognized about 700 college students going through meals insecurity, however that quantity might be a lot increased. He added that most of the college students are worldwide college students.
“There are undoubtedly prices to a school training that are not included in that tuition, and a kind of issues is housing, meals and books,” Manjarrez mentioned.
Texas State can also be receiving college students who need assistance. Final yr, a mean of 75 college students went via the on-campus meals pantry, however this yr the numbers have elevated.
“We’re seeing a mean of 100 contributors per week,” mentioned Dr. Lesli Biediger-Friedman, an affiliate professor in Texas State College’s Faculty of Household and Shopper Sciences.
In 2017, Texas State performed an evaluation to get a greater concept of what number of college students wanted assist.
“Throughout that point, greater than 40% of scholars within the state of Texas have been meals insecure,” Biediger-Friedman mentioned.
That data led to the beginning of the “Bobcat Bounty,” which is the primary student-run on-campus meals pantry.
Many of the meals comes from the Hays County Meals Financial institution.
Pandemic aid has helped by increasing qualifications to permit extra faculty college students to be eligible for SNAP advantages.
“Nonetheless, as soon as we begin to see expiration dates on these insurance policies…it is one thing we should always take note of,” Biediger-Friedman mentioned.
Researchers discovered that a couple of in three faculty college students do not need sufficient to eat, and one contributing issue is that almost 70% of faculty college students who’re doubtlessly eligible for SNAP meals advantages don’t obtain them.
Each St. Edwards and Texas State hope to boost consciousness about their applications to assist college students.
“I believe if lots of people knew extra about this, they might need the assist. I believe while you speak scholar to scholar, they are saying, ‘We’d like this or I want I knew about it a yr in the past,’” mentioned Ronesia Williams with Bobcat Bounty.
Discover extra details about the Bobcat Bounty right here.
Discover extra details about St. Edwards applications to assist college students right here.