Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Misti Nelson
December 5, 2015
FOOD INSECURITY AMONG ALASKAN COLLEGE STUDENTS 2
Abstract:
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
Research shows that 12.3% to 31% of students from University of Alaska Anchorage
Student Services “Daily Den”, the UAA Student Health and Counseling Center
hungry each day despite a huge surplus of food production. Food insecurity is
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
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.
(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
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
and further strengthen the support systems to increase access to nutritious foods
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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,
(Bahrampour,2014, para. 5). Another student, who was in his third year of
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
“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
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
These articles are important to UAA to show that it is necessary for students
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
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
Food Cache. SHCC do not take food donations in general, only due to the fact of very
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
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
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
available-for-food-insecure-students/
Anonymous. (2015). Limited Access Food Insecurity on Campus. Food Service, (3),
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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
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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.
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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
Lindsley, K., & King, C. (2014). Food Insecurity of Campus-Residing Alaskan College
doi:10.1016/j.jand.2014.06.319
Snyder, A. (2011, October 18). Food insecurity closer to home than most would
http://www.thenorthernlight.org/food-insecurity-closer-to-home-than-
most-would-expect/