Abstract:
Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. Food benefits delivered through the CalFresh program, California’s version
of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), can reduce hunger by helping students pay for groceries but may not reach all eligible students. To date, higher education systems have lacked good estimates of the share of students who are eligible for CalFresh and the share who actually receive benefits. Using a linked database of student-level administrative data on college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation, in this brief we estimate how many California community college (CCC) students are eligible for CalFresh, how many students are taking up those benefits, and how many are missing out. We estimate that in fall 2019, 22% of CCC students (346,000 students) were likely eligible for CalFresh benefits. However, the majority of these students did not receive benefits—only 26% (88,000) of eligible community college students actually participated in CalFresh.
of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), can reduce hunger by helping students pay for groceries but may not reach all eligible students. To date, higher education systems have lacked good estimates of the share of students who are eligible for CalFresh and the share who actually receive benefits. Using a linked database of student-level administrative data on college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation, in this brief we estimate how many California community college (CCC) students are eligible for CalFresh, how many students are taking up those benefits, and how many are missing out. We estimate that in fall 2019, 22% of CCC students (346,000 students) were likely eligible for CalFresh benefits. However, the majority of these students did not receive benefits—only 26% (88,000) of eligible community college students actually participated in CalFresh.
Publication date:
October 28, 2025
Publication type:
Higher Education Policy Brief