ATLANTA—Food pantries across Georgia colleges and universities continue to see high volumes of students accessing their services, participants at the inaugural Georgia Campus Food and Nutrition Security Summit said.
The summit, organized by the Department of Nutrition of the Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions and the not-for-profit Science for Georgia, brought together faculty, staff and students from 17 Georgia universities and not-for-profit organizations this week.
“I hope that we can pull together our collective experience and resources to improve food and nutrition security on college campuses,” said organizer Nida Shaikh, GSU assistant professor of nutrition. “There are many passionate people already working on food insecurity on college campuses, but a critical missing component is collaboration.”
Nationwide, 23 percent college students experience food insecurity, almost double that of the general population.
At GSU, 59 percent of students said in a survey that they have experienced some level of food insecurity. A similar survey this past spring at Kennesaw State University found 52 percent of its students experienced food insecurity.
GSU’s Panther’s Pantry, started in 2013 by graduate nutrition students, had 1,811 unique clients in 2023 and 1,868 in 2024, but the number of total pantry visits climbed significantly from 4,427 to 6,335 visits, according to Leslie Mack, assistant director of nutrition services at GSU.
Agnes Scott College’s pantry saw 550 visits in the 2023-2024 academic year, while Gordon State College limits students to one visit a month to better help more students.
Employees of university food pantries cited staffing, inventory and low-to-no budgets as the biggest obstacles to helping food insecure students. Augusta University raised $40,000 last year to fund its two food pantries. The university recently increased the size of its pantries and is adding a third one, along with refrigeration, according to D.J. Roberts, manager of the Open Paws Food Pantry at Augusta University.
Participants pointed out that universities can provide unique resources. Gordon State student nurses often help with food and hygiene supply drives across campus. Both Middle Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University engage social work students to serve as case managers, as food insecure students often are housing or transportation insecure, too.
Participants urged universities to have specialists from the Georgia Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) visit campus to help qualified students apply for benefits, as the application process is cumbersome.
“For students, SNAP can help alleviate worries about where a next meal might come from and let them focus on their studies,” said Caree Cotwright, director of nutrition security and health equity at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She also highlighted two additional federal resources, the Emergency Food Assistance Program and SNAP-Ed.
Universities also need to do a better job getting the word out to affected students, participants said, as many students are not aware of food pantries and emergency funding. The Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week runs nationwide from Nov. 17-23, 2024.