Food Insecurity Impacts Ithaca College Community

By Skylar Eagle

Food Insecurity. You’ve probably heard of it, but who does it impact? It’s often discussed in relation to large cities, poor communities, and on a national scale when discussing agricultural trends and the fluctuation of poverty levels. While discussion on national food insecurity is rampant and ongoing, there’s a rise in food insecurity somewhere you might not expect: college campuses.

According to the most recent Campus Climate Survey, conducted in 2016, 46% of the almost 3,000 respondents reported experiencing financial hardship while attending Ithaca College. This isn’t surprising with a private four-year institution that has a sticker price of over $60,000 when you factor in tuition, room and board, textbooks, and living expenses. What is surprising is that of those 46%, 36%; almost 500 students, reported difficulty affording food.

The Campus Climate Survey also revealed data about how many students had a meal plan on campus. According to the survey, 1,810 students are on a meal plan with 14 meals per week, 1,045 students are on an unlimited meal plan, 627 students are on a meal plan with seven meals per week and 365 students have a plan that allows them 10 meals per week. In total, 3,847 students at Ithaca College were on a meal plan.

According to the Ithaca College Facts in Brief from 2016, there were a total of 6,221 undergraduate students attending Ithaca College at the time of the Campus Climate Survey.

Ithaca College is not the only four-year institution to see a rise in food insecurity, the College University and Food Bank Alliance (CUFBA), a national not-for-profit organization that helps connect colleges and universities with resources to address food insecurity among college students, reported in 2016 that 48% of four-year and community college students reported being food insecure in 2016.

According to CUFBA, food insecurity is higher among students of color and first generation college students. 57% of the students of color and 56% of first-generation students surveyed reported being food insecure.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food insecurity is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food.

Kelly Madden, a junior at Ithaca College, says she battles with food insecurity every day.

“To me, food insecurity means not having a stable resource of food and worrying about it on a daily basis,” said Madden.

Madden explains that, if she does need to eat while on campus, it often goes on her credit card.

“It’s really hard sometimes because, if I do have to eat, it usually goes on my credit card. I’m $500-600 in credit card debt and struggling to afford food doesn’t always help,” said Madden.

Food insecurity, according to Madden, is more than just going to class hungry and having massive amounts of credit card debt. It also impacts academic performance.

“It can be really distracting. I usually think about it once or twice during all of my classes, being in four classes a day and oftentimes not going home until at least 8:00 p.m. and it’s really distracting to be hungry and aware that I can’t really afford to buy a bagel like everyone else,” said Madden.

Madden said there is a certain elitism that she has noticed within the campus community which isolates her and other students who suffer from food insecurity. The culture of elitism, she suggests, is the reason that so many members of the campus community are afraid to speak out about their struggles with food insecurity and how they interact on campus.

“I think, if the campus community was more open to people who are not upper-middle or upper class, then maybe we could see some changes here,” said Madden.

Ithaca College student Nabilah Abdalla says she also sees a culture of elitism at the college, especially coming from a place of food insecurity and receiving a scholarship, specifically the Bold Scholarship, that changed her financial situation at the college.

Madden and Nabilah both said there is still a lot that needs to be done.

One of the things the college has brought into consideration is the Mobile Food Pantry, a multi-faceted collaboration with the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. The Mobile Food Pantry comes once a month to the Athletics and Events Center and offers free, healthy food to students and members of the campus community.

Madden said one of her concerns with the Mobile Food Pantry is that it is not specifically marketed towards students who are struggling with food insecurity, so students who may not need the mobile food pantry end up using it.

David Prunty, Executive Director of Auxiliary Services at Ithaca College, said the aim of the partnership between the college and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier is to get the most use out of its services as possible.

During the Fall 2018 semester, a memo was sent out to the college community that tuition and the standard meal plan were sent to increase for the 2018-2019 academic year.

“I think it will offset a lot of people from lower and middle class backgrounds from coming here and that’s something I think we need. Part of what makes Ithaca College so great is the diverse groups of people who come here,” said Madden, “If the people who are in power to raise our tuition became more educated on what’s going on, I think it could really make a difference.”