CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: A 2022–23 School Year Update

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. CalFresh food benefits, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can help students in California pay for food, but may not reach all eligible students. This data point provides estimates of CalFresh participation rates among community college and University of California (UC) students in California. It updates numbers from our lastdata point, which focused on CalFresh enrollment during the 2021–22 school year.1In the academic year 2022–23, 14.4% of California community college students, 20.7% of UC undergraduate students, and 12.3% of UC graduate students participated in CalFresh at some point during the school year.