Even at elite colleges, students go hungry
Mastadon
1730 replies49 postsRegistered User Senior Member
What happens when even ramen noodles are out of reach?
It’s a problem that elite colleges across the country are now confronting, as a significant share of students are unable to afford even basic staples and find themselves skipping meals.
As an example, last year, an MIT student survey revealed that about 10% of the undergraduates reported going to bed hungry at least once in the previous week because they lacked money for food....
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/02/04/even-elite-colleges-students-going-hungry/GMDfGe89ocg31Fm1cmzR2J/story.html
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Replies to: Even at elite colleges, students go hungry
https://www.thetech.com/2017/10/12/case-survey-results
Many dorms at MIT are "cook for yourself," no meal plan required. The students who report being hungry at the beginning of the year waiting for financial aid checks are probably in those dorms. Possibly trying to stretch their food budgets to cover something else as well. Many reported needing to send money home for example.
https://www.thetech.com/photos/8287
I found out later that when he did a UROP during the first summer (and he chose to do this; he could have come home anytime), to save money, he couch hopped and sometimes spent the night in his lab (UROPs pay minimum wage, or at least they did). It was a very hard and miserable summer for him (we didn't know how bad it was), but it was also character building. He loved his time at MIT, and yes, on occasion, he did feel comparatively poor to his friends.
I had to quit my job while at MIT. I had to basically work on school every waking hour. My frat had 17 meals per week. I ate leftovers for the others.
I have had MIT interns turn down our summer offers even though they were the best opportunities work wise because every dollar lower than the maximum offer they had was money they would otherwise have to borrow.
Some schools give dining vouchers that can be used in the town, make sure a kitchen stays open and stocked with pans and such.
"Meets full need" does not mean that the student gets a full ride, with every last cent provided to cover all expenses. It means the school determines the need, not the family. Personal debt is not counted in need. A family could be paying off credit card debt -- or even debt to family members -- incurred due to past unemployment. A family could have a lowish income but have a lot of home equity. The student could have divorced parents but the noncustodial parent refuses to pay anything toward college. Yes, that last one is self-inflicted, but not the student's fault.
If the family barely has enough money to feed the family at home, they won't have extra to send their child in college.
I don't see why it is surprising that college kids are hungry when school children are hungry all the time. Our public schools send backpacks with food for the weekend home with kids because they otherwise wouldn't eat for 3 days. Our schools serve breakfast and lunch and know that those might be the only meals the students have for the day.
The Pell eligible rate at MIT is 23%, which could be a rough estimate as to who is most at risk for food insecurity. (This figure wouldn't include any internationals, and you could quibble about kids on either side near the Pell cut-off line how at risk they are, but it's a decent start.) Roughly half of those kids actually became food insecure in the survey time frame.
Other daughter chose a 12 meal/wk plan and wasn't even using all those her first few weeks of school (she then switched to a sorority meal plan). I'd be surprised to learn she's eating 12 meals a week at the sorority. She doesn't eat 12 meals a week when she's at home. Not every kid eats breakfast, not all schedules allow the student to eat in the cafeteria every meal.
There was an article about a year or so ago about how students on 100% financial aid at the Ivies still struggle because they are away from home, need bus fare, need incidentals, and it's often caused because they are sending what little extra they have home for other family members.