
Millions of College Students Are Going Hungry - paulpauper
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/01/college-student-hunger/579877/
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alexhutcheson
One part of this is that campus dining halls are often pretty expensive -
comparable to a mid-tier chain restaurant.

Even most people with professional jobs would consider it too expensive to eat
out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, but we put many college
students in a position where that’s basically their only option. At my school,
campus dining plans were mandatory for your first year, and I didn’t have
access to a real kitchen.

At the same time, it’s difficult for schools to control dining hall costs,
because (at least anecdotally) “dining hall food quality” is a surprisingly
big factor when high schoolers choose a college.

This is one symptom of a broader phenomenon: college has become a bundled
product of courses and a degree + a package of expensive consumption choices,
and it’s difficult to get one without the other. Most people early in their
careers don’t live in luxury apartments, belong to fancy gyms, or eat out a
lot, but living that lifestyle is the default expectation now if you go to a
residential college or university in the US.

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kazen44
the fact that american college dorms do not have kitchen is something i find
absolutely idiotic.

Why are there no shared kitchens? Most dorm-like university buildings i have
seen in my country have shared kitchens for a couple of rooms or an entire
floor.

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grawprog
Or possibly outlets you could plug a hotplate(induction ones don't even get
hot...they just heat the metal pan...so not even really a fire hazard unless
you just leave it for hours...though they usually have shutdown timers these
days....but i mean these are adults we're talking about here...), or a rice
cooker or a microwave or an electric kettle into? There's lots of ways to make
cheap easy food. I just don't understand you could be in college, have access
to electricity and starve....

There are so many ways to cheaply feed yourself, even without a kitchen, that
it seems like a self induced problem. If you can't afford the cafeteria food
and you have no kitchen...how is the only other option just to starve???

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technofiend
When I went to school the dorms weren't wired for delivering that much
amperage to every room. There were strict guidelines against high draw small
appliances like hot plates and fridges.

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grawprog
From the information I could find. A single hotplate draws as much power as a
straightening iron, a portable heater, a toaster or a coffee maker. A mini
fridge draws much less. A slow cooker, also a viable food preparation option,
draws less than all of those even.

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devereaux
I suppose it's a good thing: they will memorize more easily

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2063745/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2063745/)

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digb
When I was involved in establishing a campus food pantry, I read that ~40% of
students experienced “food insecurity”, whatever that means. This adds
interesting concrete ness

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joejerryronnie
I think “food insecurity” means not knowing where your next meal is coming
from a significant portion of the time.

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kyrieeschaton
"Food insecurity" is a textbook example of an underlying problem (hunger &
malnutrition) being solved so thoroughly that the goalposts are moved out of
the stadium to justify further intervention.

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twtw
Is that moving goalposts, or just recognizing another problem?

It seems like a problem, so is it a bad thing to solve it once we've
(according to you) solved hunger and malnutrition?

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DeonPenny
I remember numerous times in college going days without food. This is a real
problem. Trying to study while also only having water and crackers just drains
you of motivations.

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majewsky
Yet Americans wonder why everone else laughs when they proclaim they're the
"greatest country in the world".

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DeonPenny
Yeh, I learned after college that "great country" thing only applies if you're
not broke.

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sjg007
It's actually bad that most students can't get SNAP benefits. I think that
full time students should be able to get them. Verification is easy enough.

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jelliclesfarm
I am not getting any information from this piece except that students need
more govt aid.

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ohiovr
Our local OSU branch started a pantry for this reason.

