Abstract:
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the federal government responded by expanding the country’s safety-net programs, including through stimulus payments. There were also significant federal policy changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest food assistance program in the United States. Benefit amounts were increased, and eligibility rules were changed to make more people eligible, including by temporarily broadening college student eligibility for SNAP. Even before the pandemic, food insecurity among college students was alarmingly common; abouthalf of California community college students reported being food insecurein 2018. SNAP — called CalFresh in California — has the potential to alleviate this problem, but as a previousCPL report shows, only about a quarter of eligible community college students receive CalFresh. This policy brief describes how eligibility for CalFresh changed among community college students because of broader college enrollment changes during the height of the pandemic and due to temporary eligibility changes Congress made to SNAP.
Publication date:
January 28, 2025
Publication type:
Higher Education Policy Brief