Brief Assessing Food Insecurity on Campus
Kristin Blagg, Diane Whitmore-Schanzenbach, Craig Gundersen, James Ziliak
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In this brief, we report nationally representative estimates of food insecurity among college students using data from the October and December Supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS). We find that levels of food insecurity among households with students in four-year colleges and vocational education were 11.2 and 13.5 percent, respectively, in 2015—rates that are largely similar to national levels. However, food insecurity among households with students enrolled in two-year colleges was higher in the period after the 2008 recession than in 2015, with average rates of food insecurity of 21.2 percent during 2008–14. In 2015, their rate of food insecurity dropped to 13.3 percent.

This report was updated on August 2, 2017.

Research Areas Education Social safety net
Tags Higher education Hunger and food assistance Job training Social determinants of health
Policy Centers Income and Benefits Policy Center Center on Education Data and Policy