WASHINGTON — There will soon be more resources for college students struggling with food insecurity.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it is taking steps to make it easier for students to access the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.
This comes after a recent Government Accountability Office report found that nearly two-thirds of the more than three million college students eligible for federal food assistance in 2020 did not access it.
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The same GAO report said 25% of all college students in the United States experienced food insecurity in 2020.
Advocates say many of the students who qualify for federal food assistance programs just aren’t receiving the benefits.
“The statistics are really compelling,” Vince Hall of Feeding America told Channel 2 Washington Correspondent Nicole D’Antonio. “There’s a huge gap between what programs are offered by the government, what food banks can do and what college students are actually receiving.”
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Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Education are teaming up to expand access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including reaching out and working with students to guide them through the application process.
Over the years, advocates have pushed Congress to make the program easier to access for college students and they say the current enrollment process is confusing, outdated and can even be expensive for some.
“These programs are falling short of their goals because the program hasn’t been modernized. They haven’t been updated. I haven’t used new technology in ways to make it possible for people to quickly and easily get involved in the programs,” Hall said.
To qualify for SNAP, students have to meet the program’s income criteria and eligibility requirements. That includes participating in work-study programs or working at least 20 hours each week.
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