For Kelly Gibbons, King’s College’s food pantry debunks the stereotype of the starving college student.
“They say starving college students … live on ramen noodles or candy. I think that is a sign of food insecurity that they're not even aware of,” said Gibbons.
Gibbons is the assistant director of the Shoval Center for Community Engagement and Learning, which runs a pantry stocked with canned and fresh food, to-go meals and a full kitchen for student use. The Wilkes-Barre college recently received $20,000 from the yearly PA Hunger-Free Campus Grant, which supports programs on college campuses that address student hunger.
The grant is part of a greater statewide initiative to combat hunger on higher education campuses.
Shoval Director Bill Bolam said King’s opened its pantry in the spring of 2018 after it surveyed students on food insecurity and received more than a hundred requests for help.
“It was one of millions of emails that go out to students. [We] just sent it the one time, and overnight, we had 121 responses. Seventy-one students said that they were going without food on a regular basis, and 50 additional students said they had either had a roommate or a friend at the college who was also going without food on a regular basis,” Bolam said.
Food insecurity on Pa. college campuses
Food insecurity is an official term from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It’s when people do not have enough to eat and do not know where their next meal will come from.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education Office of Postsecondary and Higher Education reports the statewide food insecurity rate is 11.9%, including 1 in 3 students.
But that number may be higher, according to Feeding America, which found that 13.2% of Pennsylvanians are food insecure.
Its report, Map the Meal Gap, also found that hunger in Pennsylvania increased by 48% since 2020. That’s more than double the increase of the national average, which rose by 21% over the same period, from 2019 to 2023.
Bolan cited a few reasons why college students may be especially susceptible to food insecurity. For many, college is the first time where students are on their own financially and need to manage a fixed budget.
“The one item on their budget that is incredibly contractible is food. So if you're out of money at the end of the month … you can go with less food. You can skip meals entirely. And that is exactly what we found, that not only our students, but that undergraduates across the country were and are doing,” Bolan said.
Gibbons said some students, particularly student-athletes and international students, may be at an additional financial disadvantage if they are unable to fit work into their schedule or are otherwise ineligible to work.
Many of those students rely on a meal plan, but it may only offer students a limited number of meals through the college.
“That's a great resource. But … if you run out of meal swipes, where are you going to go for food? … I see a lot of (athletes and international) students come in … because they have very limited budgets and other resources,” Gibbons said.
Bolan added that more people, including first-generation students, are enrolling in college than in previous years, but rising tuition and grocery prices outpace student and family incomes.
Hunger is an ‘invisible problem’ on college campuses
King’s College has around 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students combined. Bolan said college data estimates about 500 students are food insecure, but only around 200 seek support from the center.
Gibbons blamed stigma for the disparity. She said she grew up with a single mother and relied on reduced-cost lunches.
“At that time … you would have to raise your hand to say that you were getting free or reduced lunch and you had a different color ticket,” Gibbons said. “And I will tell you, I didn't raise my hand, and I went without food. I know what it's like to not eat or to be too embarrassed to admit that you don't have enough money to buy your lunch.”
Students at Shoval are not asked to state why they need food or a place to cook their meals, just to press a blue button that tracks how many students use the center per week. The button helps King’s report pantry usage for grant purposes.
“We try to make it as stigma-free as possible … Maybe you just forgot your money to buy lunch today, or maybe you know your paycheck was a little bit shorter than it used to be,” Gibbons said.
Bolan said there are few ways to tell that someone may struggle with food insecurity. Hunger is silent as people rarely feel they can reach out for support and will often try to hide their issues.
“You'll see a lot of students … coming through doors here. You never in a million years predict that student is food insecure … You can't tell from the outside … it's an invisible problem,” said Bolan.
Food support on campuses throughout Pa.
Campus food pantries have popped up across the state.
Over in Williamsport, Lycoming County, the Pennsylvania College of Technology operates The Cupboard, a computer lab-turned-food-pantry.
The college received $40,000 from its Hunger-Free Campus Grant to add a double-door refrigerator and double-door freezer to expand its supply of fresh produce. It also invested its grant to add “break boxes” and 125 emergency meal swipes to its services.
Staff said the boxes are for students who need to stay at the college over seasonal and holiday breaks and who need meal support. The funding supports boxes for about 25 students.
Autumn Hampton, a dining services manager, said the college has roughly 4,500 students and data shows that around 1,500 deal with food insecurity. She said the pantry serves 500 students each semester, and the number increases each year since it started in 2016.
Students have asked for additional support from the pantry, such as baby wipes and personal hygiene products.
“It really takes a village to support the pantry,” Hampton said.
The Cupboard has also has six “mini-Cupboards” stocked with small refrigerators and shelving throughout main campus, the Lumley Aviation Center and the Schneebeli Earth Science Center.
Hunger impacts students’ ability to succeed
Heather Brennan, Pennsylvania College of Tech’s dietician, said students need access to food pantries to succeed in class and prepare for their futures.
“Nutrition and food insecurity directly impact a student's health, like their physical health, their mental health, developmental … and just their overall well-being,” she said.
Besides the financial strain to manage a budget and pay for tuition, Brennan said students may also struggle with food insecurity as they navigate how to be an adult.
“You have this new independence and freedom [and] you're learning a lot of new adulting skills and life skills … Maybe for the first time you're learning how to cook. You're learning how to even just be in the cafeteria and put your meals together, or even just [learning to avoid bad habits] like eating irregularly … learning how to manage stress levels, and maybe missing meals,” Brennan said.
The Pennsylvania College of Tech reports that food insecurity lowers a student’s chance of graduating by 42%.
Gibbons said colleges realize they need to do more to educate students on how to eat well and take care of themselves as they navigate the transitional period between leaving home and starting their adult lives. She said elementary through high schools offer more programming on the importance of healthy eating.
“It's incredible to me that that stops once you go to college,” Gibbons said. “You're learning more, you’re [using more] brain power, you’re scheduling [more], you're on your own now. There's a lot of stressful things and food is a necessity. Not having [food] is going to diminish your ability.”
Effect of SNAP cuts on college students
Some education activists worry food insecurity among college students may increase over the next few years as students adjust to Trump Administration cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps.
Trump’s spending bill, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” changes work requirements for “able-bodied” adults to receive SNAP. The adults are classified as being between ages 18 to 65 without children under six years old, and they must work 80 hours a month.
The state Department of Education reports that the bill does not make eligibility changes specifically towards college students, responding to WVIA that colleges can certify employment programs to expand eligibility to students. The department states that the earliest potential benefit loss in Pennsylvania is December 2025.
The Trump Administration has also threatened to withhold nearly half a billion dollars of SNAP funds from Pennsylvania. It gave the Shapiro Administration a Friday deadline to provide personal data about recipients, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers, according to WESA.
