UCLA study finds CalFresh program underused by college students

CalFresh, a federally funded food assistance program, is a largely untapped resource for California college students, a recent UCLA study found.

Researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and California State University, Fullerton, published a report measuring the impact CalFresh has had on food-insecure students at schools across California. The report found that 45% of food-insecure students had never used CalFresh.

“You get down to Los Angeles, and that’s a very high cost of living area, and so the issues are largely about the overall affordability of everything that goes into the college experience,” said AJ Scheitler, director of the Data Equity Center at the UCLA CHPR and lead author of the report.

Scheitler said access to CalFresh can help college students succeed in school.

“The problem that we’re trying to address is helping students stay in school and stay healthy,” Scheitler said. “Finances and being able to have food that keeps you healthy and focused.”

The California government gives people using CalFresh up to $292 a month, which they can use to purchase food items from markets, grocery stores and restaurants. The purpose of the report was to investigate why students at colleges across California who are eligible for the program end up using it, said Tabashir Nobari, an author of the report.

The researchers recommended that university leaders show “strong support” for the program to encourage students to access it.

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