American college students are having a hard time finding food, 36 percent of them don't have enough to eat
An insidious epidemic is looming over millions of college-going students in the United States: the struggle to afford enough food to sustain themselves.
A latest survey, conducted by researchers at Temple University and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, suggests that the issue of the 'run-down college student life' is even worse than what the general public believes it to be, with at least 30 percent of the students in American colleges and universities not getting enough to eat. They also face similar difficulties in securing a place to live.
The findings of the survey, released on Tuesday, was assimilated after questioning 43,000 students from 66 colleges and universities in America. This is the first report which includes students from two-year, four-year, private and public universities, including the George Washington University. Researchers took assistance from the Department of Agriculture's assessment for measuring hunger.
The survey found out that nearly 1 in 10 community college students went without eating an entire day in the past month. Among university students, the number reached at least 6 percent, according to reports. Although any higher education institution was invited to participate in the survey, the researchers said that the sample was not designed to be representative of all the colleges across the nation.
The researchers said that they believed the reason so many students in the country are going hungry is the ever-increasing college costs, inadequate aid packages and growing enrollment among low-income students. The researchers also included certain colleges' reluctance to admit that they have a hunger problem. As the colleges are getting more expensive, it is becoming harder for students to make ends meet.
A professor of higher education policy at Temple and the lead author of the report, Sara Goldrick-Rab, said: "Prices have gone up over time. But the rising price is just a piece. This is a systemic problem." Reports state that the students who have "low food security" are not just giving a miss to meals at the dining hall, they are also eating smaller or fewer meals a day because they do not have enough money to spend on food.
The report also found that students are also struggling to find a place to sleep at. The survey stated that 46 percent of community college students and 36 percent of university students struggle to pay for housing and utilities. At least 12 percent of community college students and 9 percent of university students have slept in shelters in the past years or in places not meant for housing.
With skyrocketing tuition fees, college students in America, today, are facing tough economic hurdles which were not presented for their parents or grandparents and it would be unfair to stereotype them as a bunch of "18-year-olds wanting to have fun."
"They’re facing a tough world," the lead author of the survey said.