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Running Head: FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 1

Food Insecurity Among Anchorage Alaskan Campus-Residing College Students

Misti Nelson

University of Alaska Anchorage

December 5, 2015
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 2

Abstract:

Food insecurity is a threat to student success on college campuses in the United

States. It has the potential to impact academics, wellness, and behavior. The purpose

of this research paper was to look at students who are impacted from food

insecurity across other college campuses and influence a plan to strengthen support

systems to increase access to nutritional foods for students on this campus.

Research shows that 12.3% to 31% of students from University of Alaska Anchorage

reported being moderately to extremely food insecure. The University of Alaska

Anchorage has several food resources available to students in need: Commuter

Student Services “Daily Den”, the UAA Student Health and Counseling Center

Emergency Food Cache, Student Activities’ “Snackin’ Wagon”, and UAA

Advancement’s “Free Food” section in Green and Gold e-mail announcements.

Key words: Food Insecurity, Alaska, College Students, and Programs


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A critical component to a healthy lifestyle is nutrition. Many people are going

hungry each day despite a huge surplus of food production. Food insecurity is

defined as “the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe

foods, and limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially

acceptable ways” (Patton-Lopez, 2014, para. 1). In other words, food insecurity

refers to the food’s availability and an individual’s access to it. A food secure home is

when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food

without hunger or fear of starvation. Many people around the world today are

malnourished due to the lack of a proper meal. Did you know that in 2013 it was

estimated that 12.3% to 31% of University of Alaska Anchorage respondents

reported being moderately to extremely food insecure? That is roughly over 450

UAA students confessing that they were struggling with hunger (Almendarez, 2013).

Food insecurity seems to be a significant issue for college students across the nation.

So why is food insecurity an important issue to the University of Alaska Anchorage?

The prevalence of food insecurity in the United States is about 14.9%

(Maroto, 2015). Of a population of roughly 312 million, that’s about 46.4 million

people who do not have a sufficient amount of food to meet their needs. In the state

of Alaska alone, the figures are similar; 14.6% of Alaska residents go without

adequate food in the city of Anchorage (Snyder, 2011). Unsurprisingly, college

students are a big chunk of that number. As you can see from the amounts of people

who live with insecure access to food, this is a very prominent issue across the

country. “Being in debt and being in college accumulating more debt and then

having to pay monthly bills on top of that and still needing to feed yourself. It almost
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 4

seems impossible sometimes,” said UAA student Sherri Davis who lives off of food

stamps (Snyder, 2011, para. 9). Besides debt, students are also most likely to have

problems making ends meet due to low paying jobs and the high cost of courses

each semester. So, it is necessary to expand research on different campus settings

and further strengthen the support systems to increase access to nutritious foods

for students on this campus.

There are also very real negative effects for those who do not have enough

food. Some consequences of food insecurity include: easy access to cheap sugary

foods because more nutritious foods are normally expensive, increased prevalence

of obesity due to eating lower quality sugary foods, poor nutrition, diabetes,

hypertension, hyperlipidemia, aggression and anxiety due to lack of food or

worrying about being able to buy food, decreased development of social skills in

children without proper nutrition, and lower mental and physical achievements

(Lindsley & King, 2014, para. 11). There have been several studies conducted

regarding food insecure students (Patton-Lopez, M., Lopez-Cevallos, D., Cancel-

Tirado, D., & Vaquez, L., 2014), which indicate that students suffer from a higher

level of food insecurity than that experienced by the general population –i.e. more

students go without food than the average citizen.

This may come to no surprise to those who survived college while eating a

steady diet of Ramen Noodles. In fact, many people joke about students’ dependence

on microwaveable sustenance, but the Ramen diet is part of a bigger issue: food

insecurity (Foodservice Director, 2015). If students do not get proper nutrition and

adequate food, they will likely suffer academically and succumb to the consequences
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 5

of food insecurity listed above. In an age when obtaining a college degree is essential

to future success, it is necessary that students meet their dietary needs in order to

be successful in completing their coursework. There are no currently published

studies that I found that focus on the impact of food insecurity and educational

outcomes for college students. However, in Clare Cady’s journal article “Food

Insecurity as a Student Issue” (2014) presents how hunger and food insecurity

affects students in K-12 settings and potential impacts as students move along the

educational pipeline. “These outcomes are most obvious when focused on

academics, where elementary and post secondary students who are food insecure

preform at lower levels” (Cady, 2014, p. 267). These include, but are not limited to

behavioral issues, lower scores in math, decreased memory, and lower reading

scores. Low-income students are also most likely to work in order to cover college

costs, with many working over 20 hours per week (Cady, 2014).

While most of these studies are focused on elementary and high school

students rather than college students, there exists a link between food insecurity

impacts and behavioral issues by taking the pipeline approach. The pipeline

approach, “assumes that issues occur in elementary school, into high school, and

will move forward into college” (Cady, 2014, p. 268). Given that food insecurity has

negative impacts in K – 12 settings, one could make an assumption that the same

impacts would be present for college students experiencing food insecurity.

The article “Options Available to Food Insecure Students” overlooked the

UAA spring semester of 2013 with sociology majors Rachel Wintz and Nathaniel

Chriest. They used a grant from the Office of Undergraduate Research to conduct a
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 6

study about food insecurity among students of UAA. 454 students, about five

percent of the student population, took surveys in a random sampling of four senior-

level capstone courses and 17 General Education Requirement courses about their

access to reliable food sources and their suggestions for campus food availability.

The results of the study showed that, “31 percent of people surveyed demonstrated

some level of food insecurity. It also showed that 71 percent of students think food

prices are too high on campus and 74 percent want more food providers on

campus” (Almendarez, 2003, para. 2). A higher education is seen as key to financial

security. Students pursuing a higher education face high tuition and living expenses

that are rising, making it all the more tempting to cut corners on food.

In addition to the article above mentioning about high costs on campus, the

journal article written by Tara Bahrampour (2014) “More college students battle

hunger as education and living costs rise” states that university administrators

report seeing more hungry students, especially schools that enroll a high percentage

of youths who are from low-income families or are the first generation to attend

college. “ ‘Between paying rent, paying utilities and then trying to buy food, that’s

where we see the most insecurity because that’s the most flexible,’ said Monica Gray,

director of programs at the College Success Foundation-District of Colombia”

(Bahrampour,2014, para. 5). Another student, who was in his third year of

completing his degree at George Mason University, decided to save money by

moving off campus. He figured that skipping the campus meal plan, which costs

$1,575 for 10 meals a week each semester, and buying his own food would make his
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 7

life easier. But he had trouble affording the $50 a week he had budgeted for and

ended up having to get two jobs to pay for it.

“Almost as bad as the hunger itself is the stress that you’re going to be

hungry” said the student from GMU (Bahrampour, 2014, para. 2). Living in poverty

is associated with high levels of prolonged stress associated with health problems.

Economic and food insecurity are particularly touching aspects of poverty and

shape the work of securing basic daily needs. The journal article “Applying the Post-

Modern Double ABC-X Model to Family Food Insecurity” discusses that food

insecurity increases the risk of depression in both men and women. The issue with

food insecurity is that it is difficult to resolve and may lead to social, emotional, and

physical stress unless the circumstances of life change. In considering stress pile-up,

a student’s depression can have an impact on their academic progress and lower

their GPA (Hutson, Anderson & Swafford, 2015, p. 21). Counting hungry students is

hard because the issue if often shrouded in shame. On a Facebook page called GMU

Confessions, an 18-year-old student with three part-time jobs confided

anonymously, “I send my parents 50 dollars every month just so that they can

manage to buy groceries, I have a 5 meal per week plan and I am like REALLY

REALLY hungry all the time” (Bahrampour, 2014, para. 24). The student said she

was thinking about considering suicide, promoting other students to offer her meals

from their plans.

These articles are important to UAA to show that it is necessary for students

to have a healthy diet in order to be successful in completing their coursework, not

having to stress about hunger and to keep their grades at an acceptable level. Having
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 8

access to resources that help out with students in-need really make a difference. It

only might be a small percentage of the couple hundred students here at UAA that

need assistance with food, but just imagine if resources were not available. So

because of this problem, how do these articles influence a plan for the students of

University of Alaska Anchorage?

There are several resources that UAA has available for students in-need:

Student activities’ “The Snackin’ Wagon”, UAA Advancement’s “Free Food” section in

the Green and Gold e-mail announcements, Commuter Student Services’ “Daily Den”

in the Student Union, which provides food two to three times a day for students. The

UAA Student Health and Counseling Center (UAA SHCC) furnishes emergency food

cache bags to students who report needing food. This funding for these bags is

through monetary donations to the University of Alaska Foundation, Emergency

Food Cache. SHCC do not take food donations in general, only due to the fact of very

limited storage space they have in their building unit.

I reached out to the UAA SHCC and sent them an e-mail asking if they had any

statistics of how many students they have helped in just this semester alone. Betty

Bang, who is a Nurse Practitioner at UAA SHCC, replied to my email. She informed

me that from August 1st through December 1st, 2015, Emergency Food Cache Bags

have been given out to 78 students. During the same time frame, 81 food cards have

been distributed by the SHCC and donated by UAA Housing. These food cards give

students up to six meals at the Creekside Café at the Gorsuch Commons. These food

cards are also available through the CARE team and the Dean of Students Office.

They are not available until later in the semester when donated by UAA Housing.
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 9

During the final two weeks of classes, the SHCC has two days of free Soup and Lunch

in the Rasmuson Hall Lobby (serving 925 students this year), and Student Activities

Late Nights, which provide free food (Bang, 2015).

Many students qualify for food stamps, but do not take advantage of the

program for various reasons, the biggest reason being the embarrassment of being

in the program. It is a tough economy we are living in, with no guarantees that it will

get better before the next generation takes over. Right now the numbers for low-

income, food insecure students are not looking too good and have been slowly

growing (Snyder, 2011). Without these programs, like the University of Alaska

Anchorage Student Health and Counseling Center, The Snackin’ Wagon, or the Food

Bank of Alaska in place, many students would be stressed out by starving. So, it is

necessary to expand research on different campus settings and further strengthen

the support systems to increase access to nutritious foods for students on this

campus.
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 10

References:

Almendarez, J. (2013, May 29). Options Available for Food Insecure Students. The

Northern Light. Retrieved from http://www.thenorthernlight.org/options-

available-for-food-insecure-students/

Anonymous. (2015). Limited Access Food Insecurity on Campus. Food Service, (3),

26. Retrieved from

http://sz3sa6ce8r.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-

2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-

8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:ke

v:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Limited+access%3A+food+insecur

ity+on+campus%3A+college+kids+subsisting+on+ramen+noodles+may+be+

a+stereotype%2C+but+students+struggling+to+afford+food+is+not+only+a

+fact%2C+it%27s+a+growing+concern+on+campuses&rft.jtitle=FoodServic

e+Director&rft.date=2015-03-15&rft.pub=CSP%2C+LLC&rft.issn=0897-

7208&rft.volume=28&rft.issue=3&rft.spage=26&rft.externalDBID=IOF&rft.e

xternalDocID=405807128&paramdict=en-US

Bahrampour, T. (2014, April 13). More college students battle hunger as education

and living costs rise: Food insecurity rising on college campuses as tuition

rates rise and more low-income students enroll. The Washington Post, p. 1.

Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/1515457

302?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=14473

Betty, B (2015). Food Insecurity Advocacy. (Personal Communication)


FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 11

Cady, C. (2014). Food Insecurity as a Student Issue. Journal Of College And Character,

15(4). doi:10.1515/jcc-2014-0031

Hutson, S., Anderson, M., & Swafford, M. (2015). Applying the post-modern Double

ABC-X model to family food insecurity. Journal Of Family And Consumer

Sciences, 107(1). doi:2331-5369

Lindsley, K., & King, C. (2014). Food Insecurity of Campus-Residing Alaskan College

Students. Journal Of The Academy Of Nutrition And Dietetics, 114(9), A94.

doi:10.1016/j.jand.2014.06.319

Maroto, M. (2015). Food insecurity among community college students: Prevalence

and relationship to GPA, energy, and concentration (Doctoral dissertation).

Morgan State University.

Patton-López, M., López-Cevallos, D., Cancel-Tirado, D., & Vazquez, L. (2014).

Prevalence and Correlates of Food Insecurity Among Students Attending a

Midsize Rural University in Oregon. Journal Of Nutrition Education And

Behavior, 46(3), 209-214. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2013.10.007

Snyder, A. (2011, October 18). Food insecurity closer to home than most would

expect. The Northern Light. Retrieved from

http://www.thenorthernlight.org/food-insecurity-closer-to-home-than-

most-would-expect/

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