<p>At Yale someone started a program where students could donate their unused meals each month to a food pantry. The girl who set it up would get the dining hall to make takeout meals for each donated meal and take them to the food pantry. Maybe some schools could ask students who don’t use their full allotment of meals to donate them to students in need …I’m sure students would be happy to help their peers if they were aware of the need.</p>
<p>We don’t need any more government programs. If anything, we need to reduce the number of programs. Just like every other government program that is failing due to abuse, I can see the same fate for this one. While I don’t like the price of tuition going up, it has to due to the costs of goods and services going up. Maybe students can concede in some places though. If you are gouing to a state school, maybe yoiu can commute from home instead of dorming. Why pay 20k extra to room and board, just to get drunk or high, when you can do that at home? It’s not like you won’t have a social life. You can still participate in extra curricular activities. It’s all about smart financial planning. And if they cannot live at home, I would suggest some sort of program funded by the private sector, that way it’s not a tax funded program, but rather through donations by the community and non-profit organizations. I know that the government can raise more money, mainly through raising our taxes, but at least through the private sector, it’d be from a genuine intent to help others.</p>
<p>I don’t know what it is like today, but as of 15 years ago, many US servicepersons with kids were on food stamps.</p>
<p>If only I qualified for food stamps… <em>rolls eyes</em></p>
<p>I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it if you need it.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with it girl, but there are other alternatives than using taxpayer money to fund this program. Starting with the students who don’t use all of their meals on their plan, and most of the time, they never do. That is wasted money. The schools themselves can help. Do you know how much perfectly edible food is thrown away and wasted every day? It’s ridiculous. We waste so much food everyday, when there are people out there who are actually starving. When that food is thrown out, that is wasted profit right there. It can at the very least be sold to the lesser fortunate students at a reduced cost. At least then the students can eat, and the cafeteria makes some profit, everybody wins. Do people seriously have zero money sense in this country?</p>
<p>Sci, at my U, all on campus meal plans are unlimited no matter what. The majority of off campus students don’t buy plans. What would you do in this case?</p>
<p>If you’re working 20 hours a week, I say you’re in need.</p>
<p>For me, I just cook Asian, buy jasmine rice at 36 dollars for fifty pounds, and cook delicious meals on a shoestring budget. My family as a whole was on food stamps in high school.</p>
<p>To just reinforce the point, in most states, the vast majority of full time college students are NOT eligible for food stamps (which is now named SNAP).</p>
<p>Romani, doesn’t student financial aid count as income? Also, wouldn’t the income from roommates, who are technically in the student’s household, also be a factor?</p>
<p>sk8r, no, it does not for the most part. At least not here in Michigan. Federal aid I know for sure is exempt. I’m not sure about private/university scholarships/aid, but I’m pretty sure (almost positive) that it was exempt. I did have to send my case worker a copy of my FA package, but I believe that was simply to prove that I had work-study as part of my FA package. Not certain though. Also, work study money does NOT count as income for food stamps. </p>
<p>Roommates do only if you share meals/food with each other. My roommate and I do not.</p>
<p>Going to school as an independent adult can be really hard, no matter what age that you are. There are a lot of people, some kids, some in their late 20’s or their 30’s that work and go to school full time. If you have ever tried to do that then you know hard incredibly hard that can be. Not every school has a cafeteria that students can go to for a cheap meal or even a prepaid meal. </p>
<p>If someone needs help with food then they can apply. Once they have gone through the application and been approved they will receive a certain amount. It can only be used for food. There are certain food items that don’t qualify to be bought with a SNAP card, such as ready made hot meals.</p>
<p>Honestly, students being able to get help from SNAP is a wonderful thing. It can be pretty stressful and hard to concentrate when you don’t have enough food. The inability to buy food can make some people just give up on trying to get an education and then quit school. That is not what we want for our country.</p>
<p>I am 18-years-old and will be moving out of my single-mother’s home in July to attend University of Florida. I have held the same job since I was 14-years-old, but will be starting a new job next week to earn more money than what I’m making. I am aware that I will receive the 100% Florida Bright Futures scholarship (though I know it’s not REALLY 100%), and I know that I will be able to pay my monthly rent with the money that I make, but I am insanely worried about the food situation. I would not be sharing food with my roommates (I will have three roommates in my apartment). I am worried as to whether or not I will be elligible for food stamps. I will be paying all of my own bills, with no help from my parents. So, although I will have roommates, will I be elligible for food stamps? I have been budgeting and crunching numbers for the past few days and I am positive that I will need food stamps to get by. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Go to the government’s food stamp site and use their calculator.</p>
<p>Cook cheap?
6-7lb roaster chicken - $9 (which is actually kinda high)
Sweet and red onion - $3
Celery - $2
Bag of gold potatoes - $3
Loaf of Bread - $3
Mayo - $3</p>
<hr>
<p>$23 and you just well fed yourself lunch and dinner for a week. Left over chicken can be thrown in pasta, sandwhiches, buy white rice, chicken gravy and throw bits of <em>cooked</em> chicken in and you’ll have a lot of food that won’t dull your taste buds. You can also freeze it and use it later or throw it in a stew which isn’t very costly at all and you get tons of it.</p>
<p>Well cooked and reasonably priced, I know that some still won’t be able to afford it and honestly you’ll get tired of chicken real quick but for the amount you get and the versatility it’s the best bang for the buck. Tho I did leave out salt and butter to cook the chicken with but you can bum salt and maybe butter too but I assume everyone has at least 1/3 stick in their fridge.</p>
<p>Ok so I really need to say something because this subject (college and food stamps) is really close to me. First off I’m not against food stamps for anyone who truly needs them. I know a fair number of people who are students and on food stamps, some with kids.
Here’s the deal though. Food stamps and other forms of welfare are really hard to get out from under (emotionally as financially) and I say this as being someone who has throughout their life, flirted with poverty and homelessness. </p>
<p>I would hope that people who are facing these issues take a moment and realize that they need to be creative. Sometimes being creative can be fun and exciting and others times, just a way to shore up your needs. So here is a short list of ways to be creative with income.</p>
<p>Income Earning
- Online Job Boards
I would only recommend Elance.com and Odesk.com for now to anyone new to working online. They have escrow systems on both websites and they are used every day. This is a nice option because much of the work on these sites are considered spot jobs, or one time jobs, but they also have longer term employment.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Biolife Plasma services (<a href=“http://www.biolifeplasma.com):%5B/url%5D”>www.biolifeplasma.com):</a> Now this may only apply to certain because they have only a few labs. Twice a week I go in and “donate” plasma and they pay me for my time. At my facility they run revolving offers. If you go all 8 times in a month, then you get an extra $50. Right now this accounts for $250 of my income, It sucks having a 17 gauge needle in your arm for an hour but, hey it pays the bills. The first few times were hard but after that you kind of get used to it…kind of</p></li>
<li><p>Coupons Coupons Coupons. Cut coupons to save and I know that sounds like a parent talking, but it works and everyone wins. When I was working at Walmart because the schools food service jobs were basically slave labor, I witnessed one lady bring down her bill from like $280-ish to $200. Clip Clip Clip</p></li>
<li><p>What are you going to school for? No seriously ask yourself this. Is it something that you could do by yourself for income on the side. Find someone who is doing it, analyze the outward results, then just go and do it. Unless it requires large infrastructure (pilots need planes, etc) or a professional license (doctor. lawyer, etc) If you are a business major, go to out and spend the cash to get an LLC. Go online to places like <a href=“http://www.aliexpress.com%5B/url%5D”>www.aliexpress.com</a> or wherever and find products to sell. Hell, if all else fails go to the dollar store and buy a bunch of electronics cables like usb cables and flip them on campus for a profit. I’ve done this with places like Dollar Tree dollar store. Do this with cookies & candy and some populations of the college might just love you at 2AM because you’re the Cookie Duuudeee. Lol yes it does work.</p></li>
<li><p>Recycling! College is one place there beer cans and pop cans go to so much waste. Go recycle a little. It isn’t much but its something and $20 more in your pocket comes in handy nearing the end of the month.</p></li>
<li><p>Tutoring: Yes I know, its been said and done to death, but it works. To put some creative spin on it though. Try high school students, students who want to achieve something you’ve already done or have a lot of experience at. It doesn’t have to be academically pointed. </p></li>
<li><p>Create a Small Service: Last summer before school, I went to the dollar store and bought some sidewalk chalk. Every year I see sidewalk chalk messages on campus and it dawned on me to offer Sidewalk Chalk Marketing, I wrote small messages in high traffic places for businesses. It worked out pretty well for a while until the snow started up.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Okay so if you’re reading this, you’ve just finished my little rant. All I can say is be creative and if you must, take the foodstamps, but please realize that there are options other than the traditional routes of income generation and safety nets. </p>
<p>Be creative
Be well</p>
<p>I guess you’ve never really lived in the Real World…</p>
<p>So much stigma with using food stamps. If you ever feel people judging you for using food stamps, you should buy a food stamps covers skins to protect your food stamps use privacy… lolz… I bought one and nobody knows I am using a food stamps card anymore, <a href=“http://www.foodstampscovers.com%5B/url%5D”>www.foodstampscovers.com</a> … hope it help! Don’t get stereotype, get food stamps covers! hehehhehe</p>
<p>$200 a month seems a bit much for one person, and I go to school in NYC. I had money saved from a previous job in HS and now I found a work-study here as well. No job is too low for an 18 year old, so go do find it.</p>
<p>I’m an African-American and even I would not fear being “judged” or stereotyped if I was granted an EBT card. My widowed mother has to help support 2 college students work 7 days a week, and even though she makes over 120K a year, and we STILL don’t have enough money to get my siblings and I through college and the rest of our expenses because I don’t qualify for any financial aid.</p>
<p>I would wave that food stamp card in the air with pride. LOL</p>