Big Secret on Campus: College Students Actually Do Not Eat Enough [OPINION]

Freshman fifteen might not be the only issue college students are facing today. For a lot of college students, food has become an issue and not the way that people think. Are students eating enough throughout their day? New studies done by the USDA show that college students really are not eating enough simply because they cannot afford it.

Have you ever heard of food insecurity? This is something that a lot of homeless people suffer from, but could it be that college students are suffering from the same thing? Food insecurity is “the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food,” according to the Oxford Dictionary. Unfortunately, college students suffer from this same issue. Most students are not eating enough as they go about their day, and the reason? It is because they lack the funds to buy enough food.  Society is not taking it seriously enough that college students don’t have enough to eat to get through the day.

Research that was published by the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior found that 59% of college students at the University of Oregon were classified as food insecure at some point throughout the previous school year. That is, 59% of students that do not eat enough because they are unable to afford it. This is a much higher number than most researchers ever expected. As a student, you begin to wonder what the cause of so many students going hungry is.

In 2016, the Student Association on the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s campus conducted a University wide survey on students and how they eat. At UWM alone, 50% of students report not having enough food to eat. This study also showed 31% of college students went all day without eating because they did not have enough money to eat. More results showed that 86% of college students skipped a meal or cut the size of their meal in the last 12 months because they did not have enough money to spend. Because of how impactful these results were, UWM now provides an on-campus food pantry that many students do not even know about. In result of this survey, the Student Association decided to give the UWM community access to more nutritious foods right on campus.

Is the cost of attending college and students’ fees to blame? It could be, but it is not that simple. Most colleges do not want to admit there is a hunger issue, especially as they raise their fees. Students going to class hungry is not something new, and it is getting worse, but college cost is just a small part of the problem. Students who are classifying themselves as food insecure are not in this category because they are “high-maintenance” and do not want to eat “college food” or because they need to save their money to go out next weekend. The big issue of students not eating enough is because of money.

So many college students are skipping meals or not eating as much as they should because they do not have enough money to pay for food, especially good, nutritious food. When you have only $100 for the week until your next paycheck and you know that you have to do laundry, get gas and buy a textbook, that leaves a very limited amount to spend on food.  Campuses might think having easily accessible food stations throughout campus will help students, but in reality, campus food tends to be a lot more expensive than going to a grocery store or stopping and grabbing fast food before class. So, ultimately, students choose to grab something else that is cheaper.

Another reason students do not eat enough or do not eat nutritious foods is because they are always on the go. Most students are going to class all day and then go to work, followed by homework and studying. For someone who has many busy days, it really is hard to fit in time to eat. Finding the time to make sure you’re cooking or eating correctly is hard and, when you do not have enough time, it is just easier to quickly grab whatever is readily available to them. Many universities across the country have finally taken steps in helping their students by altering dining plans or providing good food with more low-cost options. Hundreds of schools have even launched student-ran food pantries to give food insecure students healthier options.

The truth is that a lot of students suffer from food-insecurity while they are not eating enough throughout the day. But universities starting to provide healthier and cheaper options is a big step forward into reducing the rates and students not going to bed hungry.