On the campus of the University of Illinois Springfield lies a repurposed conference room full of refrigerators, shopping baskets, canned goods and bookcases stocked with bread.
This room is the UISCares Food Pantry. Since 2016, UISCares has served as a resource to students facing life circumstances that result in “food insecurity” - or lack of reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food. The creation of this resource spawned from findings from the National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness that reported 44% of college students cut back meal sizes or skip meals because of financial burden.
While it may be easy to reason with the idea that students who can afford to pay tuition and housing are secure in their needs, the reality is that these factors only complicate their ability to afford essentials like food. The cost of tuition and fees, coupled with inflation over the past 10 years, has resulted in serious financial challenges for today’s college students. In fact, college hunger is a nationwide epidemic.
In a study conducted by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice, nearly one in four undergraduate students and more than one in 10 graduate students are facing food insecurity. Nationwide, this equates to 4 million students who aren’t getting enough to eat. This rate is double the food insecurity rate of all U.S. households.
We all know it’s difficult to focus when we’re hungry. For students, hunger persists as assignments stack up. College is a race of endurance - set in 16-week increments of ongoing readings, papers, exams and obligations. Students lacking food to fuel their bodies and minds suffer, resulting in lower completion rates, lower class attendance, difficulty focusing and retaining information, increased rates of stress and depression and other poor health outcomes. Progress toward a degree becomes further out of reach.
What does this mean for colleges? Struggling students lead to reduced retention and graduation rates. Fortunately, like UIS, hundreds of colleges nationwide have taken a proactive approach to this problem by choosing to support students through the creation of campus food pantries. While operations and policies may differ, all focus on the end goal of assisting students facing food insecurity. Such pantries have had huge success by allowing students to save money and/or reduce debt, reduce stress/worry, focus on academics and feel supported in knowing their university is dedicated to their success.
At the UISCares Food Pantry, we do all of the above by offering essential food items - including produce, dairy and non-perishables - at no cost to students. Our choice-food pantry allows students a similar experience to grocery shopping in which they choose the items that best suit their needs, allowing them dignity in the pursuit of meeting their daily needs. What started in a small closet serving an average of 12 students per week will soon expand to a much larger space to meet the current need of 75 students per week.
Recently, multiple student situations have served as a reminder of this important resource at UIS. One student was noticeably losing weight and shared that she had been skipping meals to make ends meet. Another student reached out on a Thursday expressing concern that they only had enough food to get through the weekend. One student asked for help after recently moving out of the home of an abusive family member, and another sat in our office with tears as she told us about health concerns that caused her to miss two weeks of work and rely on her savings to buy groceries.
For eight years, the UISCares Food Pantry has been supported and sustained through the kindness of donations - both non-perishable food items and monetary gifts. We are grateful to all of the generous campus partners, individuals, community members and civic groups that support the campus food pantry. We have donation bins on campus and an online giving platform. Support is always welcome and allows us to ensure today’s students are able to move closer to graduating and realizing their dreams.
Jill Hawkins-Wright is the director of the UIS Volunteer and Civic Engagement Center, which runs the UISCares Food Pantry.
