New data from the country’s largest emergency food service network suggests that the number of college students in dire need of food assistance is at least in the millions. Nearly one-third of those surveyed in Feeding America’s 2014 Hunger in America report report that they’ve had to choose between paying for food and covering educational expenses at some point in the last year.
The msnbc.com community responded to The hunger crisis in America’s universities:
%22When%20I%20was%20in%20graduate%20school%2C%20we%20received%20food%20through%20WIC.%20After%20I%20received%20my%20degree%20and%20started%20making%20a%20bit%20more%20money%20we%20stopped%20taking%20WIC%20benefits%20even%20though%20we%20still%20qualified.%20It%27s%20not%20about%20a%20%27stigma%27%20it%27s%20about%20integrity.%20I%20didn%27t%20feel%20any%20stigma%20when%20we%20needed%20the%20WIC%20assistance%2C%20but%20we%20also%20didn%27t%20take%20it%20after%20we%20felt%20like%20we%20would%20make%20it%20on%20our%20own.%22′ %22One%20thing%20the%20article%20doesn%27t%20mention%20is%20the%20food%20insecurity%20among%20faculty.%2075%25%20of%20faculty%20on%20any%20campus%20are%20contingent%20faculty%20paid%20by%20the%20class%20and%20only%20earning%20about%20%2425%2C000%2Fyear%2C%20with%20no%20work%20in%20the%20summer.%20Many%20of%20them%2C%20especially%20those%20with%20families%2C%20are%20on%20food%20stamps%20and%20government%20assistance.%22′ %22The%20future%20of%20the%20country%20and%20the%20well-being%20of%20succeeding%20generations%20depend%20on%20the%20education%20levels%20of%20the%20population.%20We%20should%20be%20helping%20students%20not%20placing%20onerous%20barriers%20to%20higher%20education.%20We%20should%20also%20see%20to%20it%20that%20people%20who%20have%20difficulty%20affording%20food%20get%20enough%20to%20eat.%22′ %2230%20years%20later%20I%20still%20carry%20the%20fallout%20of%20%27food%20insecurity%27%20which%20took%20me%20from%20128%20to%2090%20lbs.%20The%20stigma%20of%20any%20type%20of%20aid%20drilled%20into%20me%20by%20my%20conservative%20upbringing%20saw%20to%20that.%22′ %22When%20I%20moved%20off%20campus%20and%20started%20living%20on%20my%20own%2C%20I%20usually%20fasted%20twice%20a%20week%20to%20save%20money%20and%20I%20spent%20a%20lot%20of%20time%20eating%20noodles%20and%20peanut%20butter%20and%20Jelly.%20This%20was%20part%20of%20the%20learning%20experience%20and%20I%20learned%20to%20save%20my%20money%20and%20grow.%22′ %22Countries%20in%20Europe%20have%20a%20free%20college%20education.%20While%20I%20am%20not%20advocating%20that%20we%20give%20a%20free%20college%20education%20to%20every%20person%20in%20the%20US%2C%20I%20think%20we%20are%20not%20doing%20students%20a%20service%20in%20making%20it%20so%20difficult%20that%20they%20starve%20themselves.%20%20We%20used%20to%20have%20many%20ways%20to%20help%20students%20in%20college%20and%20now%20it%20seems%20they%20have%20to%20go%20tens%20if%20not%20hundreds%20of%20thousands%20of%20dollars%20in%20debt%20just%20to%20get%20an%20education.%22′ Read the full story here: The hunger crisis in America’s universities
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