More college students are using food banks

Parents Forum
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<p>AP -- SEATTLE - Just blocks from the University of Washington, a line of people shuffle toward a food pantry, awaiting handouts such as milk and bread.</p>

<p>For years, the small University District pantry has offered help to the working poor and single parents in this neighborhood of campus rentals. Now rising food prices are bringing another group: Struggling college students.</p>

<p>"Right now, with things the way they are, a lot of students just can't afford to eat," said Terry Capleton, who started a Facebook group called "I Ain't Afraid to be on Food Stamps" when he was a student at Benedict College in South Carolina....</p>

<p>More and more, it's just the typical traditional student, about 18 to 22, that's feeling this crunch," said Larry Brickner-Wood, director of the Cornucopia Food Pantry at the University of New Hampshire.</p>

<p>"There's definitely been an increase in usage and demand. We're seeing more and more students that have never used the pantry before."</p>

<p>In the past year, the price of groceries has jumped nearly 5 percent, the highest increase in nearly two decades. The cost of some staples has shot up by more than 30 percent.</p>

<p>At the University District pantry in Seattle, demand has risen roughly 25 percent this year. About 150 students visit each week during the school year...."
'Starving</a> students' turn to food banks - Life - MSNBC.com</p>

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<p>I can't see that a 5% increase in food costs is going to have all that much of an effect on most college students - especially a 25% rise in food bank patronage. Relative to the cost of a college education, especially for someone living on-campus, a 5% increase in the cost of food is a nit. Assuming a food cost of $100 per week, a 5% increase means an extra $20 per month. Relative to the COA an extra $20 per month isn't much and could be mitigated with a very part time job. </p>

<p>I don't doubt that enterprising students will try to find cheap or free food but I doubt these are exactly "Starving students".</p>

3

<p>But it wouldn't just be the food costs that are causing students to turn to food banks. It would be rising gas costs and tuition costs combined with the difficulty of finding part-time jobs due to cutbacks of businesses.</p>

4

<p>I find this gross! Able bodied, intelligent students have NO BUSINESS taking food from a food bank.</p>

5

<p>What about the many able bodied, intelligent, low income students who either can't get jobs or are working jobs, but still need to rely on food banks to make ends meet?</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
Right now, with things the way they are, a lot of students just can't afford to eat," said Terry Capleton, who started a Facebook group called "I Ain't Afraid to be on Food Stamps" when he was a student at Benedict College in South Carolina…
A lot of students can't call their mom every day to ask for that extra fifty dollars," said Capleton, 24. "They're on their own."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>A false dichotomy case? I doubt that students need fifty dollars a day to survive on bread and milk.</p>

7

<p>What about boxed mac and cheese ?
One can survive on very little in terms of food, especially if resources are pooled with other folks in the same situation.
If J-1 workers who make min wage and pay out $100- $200 a week in rent alone can do it in my area, so can an American college student. Ramen noodle, hot dogs go a long way, if you do not have a defeatist attitude.</p>

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<p>Presumably at least some of the students who are using food banks are also working, taking out loans, and paying the bulk of their own college costs. Some even may be sending money home to their parents. </p>

<p>When I taught at a public institution, that was the situation that many students were in. A large number of students qualified for Pell Grants. Many were first generation college students from low income families. Some had been raised by low income grandparents because their parents had drug problems, legal problems, physical or mental illnesses.</p>

<p>The fact that the students managed to be in college demonstrated their lack of a defeatest attitude.</p>

<p>If they could stretch their money by using food banks, fine with me.</p>

9

<p>I think anyone who needs to take home the past the pull date stale food they have at food banks, should be able to- after all our area, has the highest rate of inflation in the country. Basics can only be pared down so much, & yes we eat a lot of ramen, but the veggies and tofu that we add to it, to make it more nutritious and palatable are expensive.
America's</a> Increasingly Unaffordable Cities - Forbes.com</p>

<p>Also, since the UW has little housing, many students are living off campus in bordering an upscale residential area, which makes their shopping for groceries, higher cost.</p>

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<p>From the article:</p>

<p>"Deirdre Wilson, a junior at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C., applied for food stamps in November because her paycheck from a work-study job didn't stretch far enough to cover her expanding grocery bill.</p>

<p>"Before, when I lived in the dorms, I was on the meal plan," the 20-year-old said. "Now that I'm in the apartment, I have to pay for food, and I have to pay my cell phone bill. I don't make enough to pay for both."</p>

<p>Lose the cell phone and pay for your food!</p>

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<p>For many students, cell phones are their only phone service.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
I think anyone who needs to take home the past the pull date stale food they have at food banks, should be able to- after all our area, has the highest rate of inflation in the country. Basics can only be pared down so much, & yes we eat a lot of ramen, but the veggies and tofu that we add to it, to make it more nutritious and palatable are expensive.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Somehow I doubt that students cook nutritious meals with tofu and veggies regardless of their budget, the sited article lists milk and bread as “the core of a college diet”. If a starving student knocked on my door and asked to work for food, I’d offer him some job (my car could use a wash) or most likely would just feed him, as I am sure would you and many others. Instead, some of these starving students turn to food banks and spend their spare time starting Facebook groups and posting on it.</p>

13

<p>"If a starving student knocked on my door and asked to work for food, I’d offer him some job (my car could use a wash) or most likely would just feed him, as I am sure would you and many others."</p>

<p>I doubt if very many of us would open the door to some stranger, and certainly wouldn't be offering them a job. </p>

<p>As for the more than 100 students using one of the food banks mentioned in the story, I doubt that they would be able to find much work by spending their so-called free time (i.e. the time in which they aren't in classes, studying or working parttime jobs) knocking on strangers' doors looking for work.</p>

<p>Out of curiosity: Who do those of you opposing college students using food banks think the food banks are for? Presumably, they are for people -- in college or not -- who are having difficulty affording food. Whether the needy people in question are college students, elderly, or single parents shouldn't make a difference in their using the food bank.</p>

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<p>Local CC and HS students knock on my door regularly; most often to collect signatures for various petitions, but sometimes asking for a job; and I always let them in. For example, several times I used students to plow the driveway and invited them to come back. As for the so-called “free time”, any full time student can find time for a part-time job, albeit possibly at the expense of some EC, sleeping time or even time spend posting on Facebook. Obviously, this may not apply to elderly or single parents, especially if they already carry a job and/or can’t afford a daycare, but you already know this yourself.</p>

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<p>* sited article lists milk and bread as “the core of a college diet”*</p>

<p>makes sense- both can be used to provide protein and are fairly filling.</p>

<p>I received food stamps ( which was what the facebook group was for) a long time ago. Very demeaning & frustrating. I was working full time, and had a car that had been a gift from my grandparents and my mother. But you couldn't own a car that was new enough to not need constant repairs so I lied about it.</p>

<p>I hated having to lie, but I really needed the help.
&lt;/p>

<p>I also expect that full time students are already working full time.
My D worked through college,enough to make about $100 a week which was enough ( almost) to pay for books & personal expenses inc travel.
But she didn't have to cover her own food or housing expenses.</p>

16

<p>i don't think most people of that age, going to college, sit around and go, hey, lets go hang out at the soup kitchen and get us some free food...not unless they really felt they had to</p>

<p>Giving up your cell phone, well, it is often the only phone people have these days. i can see my daughter jsut having a cell phone and no land line (ps-that is why some polls are skewed) but I digress</p>

<p>I asked a question on another thread that was basically ignored- about how many students really are living that perfect college life- dorms, food, not working much, etc. I thought that the answer was most of college students were NOT living this ideal ,easy life of go to class, study, have the nice dorm room, etc.</p>

<p>I would have been one of those students perhaps. And I have to say, after volunteering in a food bank and a "soup kitchen", most don't there thinking they are scamming the system, its a tough decission to make, not just hey, lets go down and get some of that yummy soup kitchen food, wait in line in a borderline neighborhood, worry about who might see us etc. Yeah, that is every 21 year olds dream.</p>

<p>As well, I can just imagine a person going from door to door every day in hope that they get lucky and one person will say sure, wash my car for 5 bucks. And have that happen every day.</p>

<p>ALL of our bills in my house have gone up- water, electricty, food, gas, milk, rice, eggs, everything, nothing has been spared</p>

<p>My mother lives with us, and she is so grateful, because she knows if she was alone, she just couldn't make it anymore. </p>

<p>Sad to say, the economy stinks and when food prices go up like they have, how sad it is indeed.</p>

17

<p>"Local CC and HS students knock on my door regularly; most often to collect signatures for various petitions, but sometimes asking for a job; and I always let them in. For example, several times I used students to plow the driveway and invited them to come back"</p>

<p>While I live in a fairly safe city, I almost never answer the door when some stranger comes by including strangers who look like students. I certainly wouldn't invite such people in or offer them jobs. Lots of people have gotten robbed or ripped off that way including in cities where I've lived.</p>

<p>I've lived around the country and have never lived in a place in which it would be likely that if a stranger showed up at one's door asking for work, people would give it to them. More than likely, people would be afraid and would call the police on them.</p>

<p>"As for the so-called “free time”, any full time student can find time for a part-time job, albeit possibly at the expense of some EC, sleeping time or even time spend posting on Facebook. "</p>

<p>More than likely, the students using things like foodbanks are working. When I taught at a public college, I had fulltime in-state students (without dependants) who were working as much as 30 hours a week and still were having trouble making ends meet.</p>

<p>Even relatively low tuition -- $15 k a year or so is a lot to pay when a student gets no help from family. Most of the low income students were working at least one part time job and also had loans and Pell Grants. Such students also were working full time over the summer. Many also had to take a year or so off from college to earn money so they could return to college.</p>

<p>To get to off campus jobs in my city, one needs a car as the public transportation is terrible. Paying for a car, insurance, repairs all are big expenses.</p>

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<p>Many of the scenarios presented here existed before any kind of possible 5% food cost increase. </p>

<p>The student the article cited that seems to be having trouble now that they're not eating on the college food plan and thus must buy their own food and pay for their own cell phone needs to learn some priorities. Firstly, they don't 'need' a cell phone. None of us went to college with expensive cell phones and many of us (including me) didn't have any phone whatsoever. I thought they were too expensive. I eventually did get one when I found a higher paying part time job and decided I could afford a phone but, it was a luxury IMO. People should also be able to eat for less cost than a campus food program if they're making their own food and buying their food wisely.</p>

<p>I'm just saying that making up for the extra $20/mo or so due to the 5% increase would mean working maybe 1 extra hour per week max (or getting the bucks from the parents). Given that, I don't have an issue with truly needy students using a food bank as long as those needier than them can still be fulfilled at the food bank as well. Maybe I should up my donations.</p>

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<p>I am not against feeding those students who work, have reasonable expectations and spending habits, but still can’t afford to buy basic food. However; I strongly doubt that the majority of students described in the article are in this desperate situation. If someone has enough time to run internet group while considering fifty dollars to be a reasonable daily allowance, I have zero sympathy.</p>

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<p>I know I'll get flamed for this, but, a college education is a privilege. Eating is not. When I donate to food shelves, I'm expecting my food to go to people who can't afford basics. Here on cc, basics apparently include a college education.</p>