Problems with Food Security on Campus

Introduction

The United Nation Committee on World Food Security defines food security as a state of having access to all time safe and sufficient dietary to enable people to lead an active and healthy life. This organization has reported that there have been significant impacts on food security due to global climatic changes, drop in environmental safety and overpopulation. The sole purpose of this study is to identify the problems experienced by students in colleges and come up with a solution to those problems so that students can have a better learning environment to focus on their grades.

Problems and Solution

Some researchers have attributed the problem of food insecurity to the high cost of colleges’ fees, inadequate help from school and government and the growing number of students being enrolled annually. Some of these students come from low-income families and the college administrators are too coy to admit that they experience hunger problems. Food insecurity is not a new issue, but it has continuously gotten worse over the years. Food insecurity can result in many factors, including:

• Worrying that food will run out.
• Acquiring food that goes bad quickly and low affordability.
• Lower consumption than desired in order to save it.
• Skipping meals for fear of running out of food.
• Not being able to afford a balanced diet.

The problem of food security has grown to a level where students in college have been affected either directly or indirectly. Not all students have access to nutritious food due to rising cost of living. Some of the students come from poor families who cannot afford to provide a decent and nutritious meal. This way, they end up experiencing food insecurity struggles that hinder them to concentrate on their school work, hence poor grades (Nellum 2017).

Colleges and universities administrators should come up with a common initiative for food access that does not separate students who come from well-up families from those who have a poor background so that they can all have an equal chance in achieving a suitable learning environment. This way, the administration will benefit as the performance will go up. Most people base-poor performance in schools on discipline only but they never focus on other issues students may be facing like food insecurity and other psychological influences (Haskett, Mary E., et al. 2018).

44 percent of students cut the size of their meals or skipped meals because there wasn’t enough for food. 15 percent of students lost weight because there wasn’t enough money for food. 20 percent of students did not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food. Research conducted by some country’s systems of higher education have deduced that:

• Roughly, one in four students, at The University of California, skipped meals for them to make savings. Following this, the administration allocated more money to improve on food security.
• In the California State University funded a research project that would help them identify the number of students from low-income backgrounds and those affected by food insecurity (Nellum 2017).
• In a study of 1,000 poor families, data showed that there is a close relationship between food insecurity and students’ moral issues such as fighting and depressions. These psychological issues also have adverse effects on the performance of the students.
• About two in five students experienced food insecurity, especially those who were working twenty hours in a week to enable them to sustain their school life. To address these problems. There is a need to mobilize all the stakeholders involved in a school setting:An analysis of the exigency of food security should be conducted on campuses to come up with initiatives that reduce a negative impact on students (Forman, et al. 2018).

Some of the actions to be enhanced have been listed below:

• Colleges should adopt student groups to advocate for the problems being experienced by various students in their campus.
• By helping the students access federal, state and community food assistance, students are able to reduce financial barriers and therefore able to focus on college completion.
• Increased access to public assistance, plus of other initiatives, would be more effective in curbing food insecurity among students.
• Documenting and understanding the scope of this problem includes conducting extensive interviews on new students to know their backgrounds and knowing the difference in characteristics of students suffering from food insecurity.

Conclusion

In conclusion, food insecurity is a major public health problem that needs to be addressed in colleges and universities across the countries. This can be a significant threat to the ability of the students to register good grades and slow down their course completion. Guidelines and policies should be put in place to make sure that students stand an equal chance to reach their goals. By doing this, universities will be able to produce many students who are fit for their careers. The most effective ways to deal with this issue is to collect more students’ information and improve the eligibility for them to get access to federal assistance programs.

Works cited

1. Forman, M. R., et al. "Food Insecurity and Hunger: Quiet Public Health Problems on Campus." J Nutr Food Sci 8.668 (2018): 2.
2. Haskett, Mary E., et al. "Food and Housing Security Among NC State Students." (2018).
3. Nellum, Chris. "Fighting Food Insecurity on Campus." Higher Education Today, 7 Apr. 2017, www.higheredtoday.org/2015/06/29/fighting-food-insecurity-on-campus/.