The Impact of Nutrition Assistance on College Student Success

Food insecurity is widespread among college students nationwide and is negatively associated with their academic success, yet little is known about whether nutrition assistance programs can improve student outcomes. We examine the impact of sustained Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation on early academic success among California community college students. We use linked administrative data from all 116 California community colleges, FAFSA records, and monthly SNAP participation data from 2014-2018. Using propensity score weighting, we compare outcomes for SNAP-eligible students who participated throughout their first year with observably similar eligible students who did not participate or participated for just a few months. We focus on first-time, full-time students who had participated in SNAP in the year before entering college. Among those students, sustained receipt of SNAP benefits during the Spring term increases the probability of earning 30+ credits in Year 1 by 1.4 percentage points and persistence to Year 2 by 2.6 percentage points. Results are robust across alternative estimators and treatment definitions. While SNAP is not designed as an academic intervention, its low fiscal cost makes it highly costeffective relative to traditional student success programs. Our findings suggest that minimizing benefit interruptions and reducing administrative barriers for eligible students may complement other strategies to improve community college completion.