SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX-35)- A recent report has revealed a significant increase in the number of struggling college students in California who are finding it difficult to afford food and housing.
The California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) released a survey on Thursday, which showed a sharp rise in food and housing insecurity among financial aid recipients in college from the 2018-2019 to the 2022-2023 academic year.
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The report stated that students at California State University (CSU), California Community Colleges (CCC), private non-profit, and private for-profit schools all reported higher than average rates of food insecurity.
According to the survey, conducted in May and based on 23,687 responses, 53% of college students claimed to have housing insecurity, while 66% were food insecure. These figures represent a significant increase from the 2018-19 survey, which found that 36% of students were housing insecure and 39% were food insecure.
The survey also highlighted that even students with meal plans faced issues with food security. Sixty-two percent of students reported being food insecure while living on campus with a meal plan, as the plans did not cover enough meals for a week and disqualified students from food assistance programs like Cal-Fresh.
The report attributed the increasing struggle for food and housing to economic inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Marine L. Garcia, the Executive Director of CSAC, expressed shock at the survey results. She stated that over two-thirds of students were identified as food insecure, while over half were housing insecure. Garcia added that female, low-income, African American, Latinx, and older students working to pay for school and often parenting were most likely to experience housing and food insecurity.
The survey also revealed that students aged 24 and older attending community colleges or private for-profit institutions, and eligible for “Zero Expected Family Contribution,” were more likely to struggle with housing and food.
Despite the challenges, the report highlighted that most students still believed that college was a worthwhile investment.
This survey comes after CSU proposed an increase in tuition for the 2024-2025 school year.
