Oh SNAP! has hired a local organic farmer to provide produce and give classes on cooking and gardening. The program also offers pop-up thrift stores where students can fill a bag with clothes and housewares for $5; proceeds go back into the program.<\/p>\n
Oh SNAP! \u201cprovides peace of mind,\u201d said Anna Martinez, a student studying political science, law and policy at Cal Poly Humboldt. \u201cI don\u2019t have to really worry too heavy on whether or not I can afford food, because if I can\u2019t, there\u2019s always Oh SNAP! I can go to.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the social justice, equity and inclusion officer for Cal Poly\u2019s student government, Martinez successfully advocated for the student board to increase funding for cultural foods. She values the sense of community Oh SNAP! provides.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very welcoming when it comes to different needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The program, vital for the 6,000 students at Cal Poly Humboldt, clocked 30,000 visits to Oh SNAP! last year, according to Mira Friedman, health education and clinic support services lead.<\/p>\n
Compton College serves free meals to all<\/h2>\n
Sara Goldrick-Rab, a Philadelphia sociologist and advocate for college student basic needs,\u00a0 thinks a free meal every day is \u201cexactly what is needed\u201d on college campuses. She conducted a study<\/a> giving students free, daily meals for three semesters at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allowed students to eat in a regular way in the school cafeteria, just like they would in the National School Lunch Program. And lo-and-behold, it increased graduation rates,\u201d Goldrick-Rab said.<\/p>\n Compton College President Keith Curry read about the Bunker Hill pilot program and decided to implement a similar program at Compton. Now, every Compton student \u2014 and employee \u2014 receives a daily meal. Students also get $20 each week to spend at the campus farmer\u2019s market. Students enrolled in CalFresh receive $50 each week for the farmer\u2019s market and can use their EBT card at campus dining services. The college uses a mix of grants and various campus funds to cover the costs of the meal program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re doing more than any other community college in the state of California and also nationally,\u201d Curry said. \u201cHow many schools can say that students receive one meal per day on their campus from their cafeteria?\u201d<\/p>\n Some California colleges offer a limited number of free meals, such as UC Davis<\/a>, where a food truck serves between 300 and 400 meals per day and students pay what they want. In fall 2025, West Valley-Mission District<\/a> in Santa Clara County will begin offering free meals.<\/p>\n Student Corinthia Mims said the first time she entered Compton\u2019s cafeteria, \u201cit was joy, always buzzing,\u201d she said. Her twin, Cynthia Mims, said the free meals bring everyone together like family.<\/p>\n \u201c[Students] feel embraced and they feel important. It\u2019s a feast,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Feeding students keeps them in school. According to data the college gathered last year, students who received free meals and money for the farmers\u2019 market were more likely to stay in their classes for the entire semester with a completion rate of 1% or 2% higher than the general population.<\/p>\n Curry visits the cafeteria to get feedback from the students. \u201cThey\u2019re proud to tell me what they like and what they got today. Because there\u2019s no negative stigma around it, because everyone is treated equally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Goldrick-Rab highlights the program at Compton College as an example of what a college student universal meal plan could look like. \u201cIt\u2019s a very nice modern version. \u2026 It\u2019s not really a cafeteria in the classic sense. It is refrigerators full of prepared meals, the way that adults would go into a Whole Foods and get a grab-and-go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In 2019<\/a>, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, introduced the Food for Thought bill, which proposes universal meal pilot programs on college campuses. The bill failed and was reintroduced in 2022<\/a> and 2023<\/a> but never enacted.<\/p>\n At Contra Costa College, students who work full time have difficulty accessing the food pantry during open hours. In April, the college unveiled 20 refrigerated lockers in the campus cafeteria where students can pick up their pre-ordered, free groceries between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Students order online and student staff fill the orders.<\/p>\n The campus basic needs center, called the Compass Center<\/a>, also offers free meal vouchers<\/a> to students three days a week, giving out 50 for breakfast, 75 for lunch and 15 for dinner.<\/p>\n Teddy Thollaug, a first-year student studying art and journalism at Contra Costa College, says they appreciate the hot meals and food lockers, especially on days when their disability makes it too hard to stand and cook. Because Thollaug\u2019s classes are all online, they are not on campus regularly.<\/p>\n A typical order includes fresh fruit and vegetables, butter and cheese, and a \u201cmystery package,\u201d which contains grains, sauces and canned food. \u201cHonestly, I feel like a kid on Christmas every time I open a mystery package,\u201d Thollaug said.<\/p>\n In 2024, the center served 5,008 students and 14,785 families of students, according to Hope Dixon, the basic needs center coordinator.<\/p>\n To encourage and support students to take full course loads, Antelope Valley College initiated Fresh Success, a CalFresh program that \u201cpays\u201d enrolled students in points for enrolled units.<\/p>\n Full-time students get more points, \u201cbecause that\u2019s our goal. We want you to get your degree, and [if you\u2019re a full-time student,] you\u2019re less likely to be able to run around and get all the other community resources,\u201d said Jill Zimmerman, dean of the Antelope Valley College student health and wellness center.<\/p>\n Fresh Success<\/a> is part of CalFresh\u2019s Employment and Training program, and is overseen by the Foundation for California Community Colleges. Currently 20 colleges across 18 counties participate in the program, which partially reimburses schools with federal dollars for workforce development services such as job training and job search assistance for students with low income.<\/p>\n Fresh Success allocates points for each unit enrolled, up to 40 points per week. Students use their points at the on-campus pantry to purchase food, toiletries and laundry soap.<\/p>\n For Alliza Wade, having access to Fresh Success means being able to put more time toward school rather than working more hours. Wade, a STEM major at Antelope Valley College, is enrolled in CalFresh but it doesn\u2019t cover all of her food expenses.<\/p>\n \u201c[Fresh Success] has a very, very significant impact on how I\u2019m able to live and eat, and how I\u2019m going to be able to pursue my future, because [it helps with] saving and being able to eat healthy,\u201d Wade said.<\/p>\n Since the college is reimbursed 45 cents for every dollar spent, the Fresh Success program benefits the college as well by providing funds to put towards employment and training support like job-specific clothing and gear, cooking classes and car tune-ups through the campus automotive program.<\/p>\n When Lorena Moreno started as the basic needs coordinator in early 2024 at Cerro Coso Community College in the southeastern Sierra region of the state, she noticed that students without permanent legal status were in dire need of assistance. Non-citizens are not eligible for CalFresh.<\/p>\n Moreno tackled the need by creating an on-campus food program called WileyFresh<\/a> \u2014 modeled on Aggie Fresh<\/a> at UC Davis, which serves students who meet CalFresh requirements but lack citizenship. Eligible students receive a monthly Albertson\u2019s gift card valued at $291, comparable to the amount an eligible single student receives on a monthly CalFresh EBT card.<\/p>\n Like the Aggie Fresh program, students who qualify for WileyFresh are required to participate in workshops that support academic and personal growth. Moreno offers the workshops as a webinar to protect student identities.<\/p>\n Last fall, Moreno increased outreach efforts. Her team of part-time student employees passed out flyers at events to raise awareness. They saw visits to the Wiley Food Pantry grow from about 350 per month in the spring semester to about 500 per week in the fall.<\/p>\n This summer, Moreno intends to expand the program to include more students who can\u2019t enroll in CalFresh. \u201cBecause at the end of the day, that\u2019s what it\u2019s intended for \u2014 this population who is missing out.\u201d<\/p>\n Many colleges now offer a way for students to donate unused card swipes from their campus meal plans to each other. However, research shows that these donations only reach a tiny fraction of students.<\/p>\n Before 2017, college dining services did not allow students to share their meal plans with other students. This didn\u2019t sit well with students at Morehouse and Spelman colleges in Atlanta. They began a hunger strike<\/a> to challenge meal plan policies that forbid sharing meal swipes. Their activism convinced their colleges to change the policies and led to a nationwide program, Swipe Out Hunger<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meal-swipe programs, as they\u2019re called at the approximately 850 colleges<\/a> nationwide that offer them, allow students to donate unused meal swipes to fellow students who need them. In California, 17 colleges participate in Swipe Out Hunger.<\/p>\n But they are not effective, Goldrick-Rab said. She evaluated Swipe Out Hunger<\/a> and found that the active programs see just 300 swipes a year.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the bottom line, I would rather give people money than food, but I still think the National School Lunch Program is important. I just want all of it. I want the guaranteed basic income. I want a higher minimum wage. Because all of it is scientifically working,\u201d Goldrick-Rab said.<\/p>\n For the record: This story has been edited to clarify that the 2023 Food and Housing Basic Needs Survey by the California Student Aid Commission uses data from a survey of students who applied for financial aid.<\/em><\/p>\n Amy Moore is a fellow with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n This article was originally published on CalMatters<\/a> and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives<\/a> license.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nContra Costa College fills food lockers with free meals<\/h2>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/050825_FoodLockers_FM_CM_12-1024x682.jpg\")
Antelope Valley College students earn points for food<\/h2>\n
Cerro Coso feeds students who aren\u2019t eligible for CalFresh<\/h2>\n
Research shows students can\u2019t rely on each other\u2019s charity<\/h2>\n