Hayes bill would connect hungry college kids with food stamps

A bill that would connect 2 million hungry college kids with food stamps would make meals one less stress on students, a federal lawmaker says.

“[O]ver one-third of college students reported knowing someone who dropped out of college because of lack of access to proper and stable nutrition,” said U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, who introduced the bill. “It is our responsibility to ensure all students have the confidence of knowing where their next meal is coming from.”

Hayes, a second-term Democrat and former national Teacher of the Year, said food insecurity on college campuses in Connecticut and across the country has gotten worse since the coronavirus crisis.

“[C]ollege student hunger soared during COVID-19,” Hayes said in a prepared release. “After the start of the pandemic, 38 percent of students said they regularly missed meals because they were less hungry or stressed .... ”

“Nearly a quarter of students at the University of Connecticut reported concerns of food insecurity and around 30 percent reported skipping meals to save money,” Hayes said. “Eighteen percent of the student body at Connecticut state colleges and universities reported housing instability or homelessness.”

The problem is that students who qualify for the federal food stamps program known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program don’t generally know that they’re eligible, Hayes said.

Hayes’ bill would require the government to inform students about their SNAP eligibility through the financial assistance form known as FAFSA.

“We can never again allow hunger to reach the astronomical levels we saw in 2020,” Hayes said.

Food insecurity on college campuses was a growing problem before the coronavirus crisis.

Part of the problem is students themselves might think going hungry is a necessary part of college life, without realizing the negative effects nutritional deficits have on academic motivation and concentration.

In 2017 a student activist at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury was trying to undo the idea of the ‘starving’ or struggling college student, for example.

Hayes agreed.

“I have seen the impact of hunger and recognize that hungry children do not learn,” Hayes said. “Any level of food insecurity among children and college students is morally reprehensible and must be addressed.”

Hayes’ bill, along with related legislation that would make certifying free lunches faster for gradeschool children by eliminating the need for family applications, is the latest in a series of initiatives to combat hunger that Hayes has launched since May, when she became chairwoman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations.

In May, Hayes chaired a hearing to distill lessons from the coronavirus crisis that saw SNAP benefits increased by 15 percent, as part of a larger effort to prepare for two upcoming reauthorization bills — a new farm bill and a new Child Nutrition Act.

The hearing came at the same time that Hayes and her colleague on the subcommittee, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., called on President Joe Biden to commission a White House conference focused on “ending hunger throughout the United States by 2030.”

In June, Hayes introduced a bill in the House to help children being raised by grandparents and other guardians to receive the same free school meals as other kids in need.