Posted on 04/05/2018 3:16:33 PM PDT by EdnaMode
Sarah Barrett didn't need a grand study to tell her a bunch of students on Kansas State University's campus had been going without food.
As an assistant dean of students, she had heard enough of them talk about choosing books or housing costs over food to know that the university needed to do something to help its hungry students.
K-State students are not alone. The problem of college students' inability to afford food is common on campuses across the country.
According to a first-of-its-kind survey of two- and four-year private and public schools, 36 percent of students on college campuses in the U.S. do not get enough to eat.
On Wednesday afternoon just after the noon lunch hour, the UMKC Kangaroo Pantry opened its doors to a short line of students needing food. Katie Garey, who manages the pantry, and a student volunteer were busy stuffing plastic bags with nonperishable food items requested by the handful of students who filled out order forms that day.
"We are pretty busy," Garey said. "At the end of the semester, we start recognizing that students no longer have food on their meal plans or maybe their financial aid has run out or they have given up a job so they can study, so they no longer have that income."
And that lost income could also impact housing. Nearly as many of those who are food insecure don't have secure housing. The U.S. Department of Education describes the homeless as "lacking fixed, regular, adequate housing," which includes those living in shelters, hotels, cars, tents or "couch surfing" at friends’ houses.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
They chose poorly.
My son will graduate at the end of this spring term. The last two years he worked in the cafeteria on campus...
I call BS on this article. I do not believe it.
However the insane increases in tuition at universities is a result of insane government loans to students.
I was able to work my way through two university degrees in the 70s and the 80s. I had minor debt after my last degree of 8000 dollars which is about 20000 dollars in today’s money. That is totally impossible to do today. I have had pharmacy graduates that I trained in the hospital with over 100,000 dollars of debt and this was not unusual.
Due to the vast amount of loans available to students the universities do not have to respond to normal market forces of supply and demand thus tuitions have increased at many times the rate of inflation.
Actually the universities are responding to market forces in a totally logical manner. They know the students have access to vast loans and as such increase tuitions and know the student will and can pay it. When the student graduates he is screwed with debt.
What BS. I’d love to see what definition they are using for “homeless”
“Maybe if they figured out what it was going to cost them ahead of time,” then young people would have more credit.
Problem: everyone encourages high school seniors to go to college.
Solution: stop taking the Diploma drug and start planning for financial independence in high school.
“They never heard of Ramen noodles? Hellzbellz!”
Years ago, I worked with an engineer fresh out of college, and this was his first good paying job ever. He still lived like he was in college: small apartment, cheap car, Walmart clothes, and ate mostly Ramen noodles and oatmeal. Apparently, he was the first in his family to ever go to college, and had to live very frugally while in school. I didn’t believe the “noodles and oatmeal” talk until I visited his apartment one time... He eventually got used to having more money, after he bought a new car with cash...
Maybe they should stop spending their student loans on Spring Break.
Furthermore, the processed food handed out at food pantries is incredibly unhealthy, so they’re probably contributing to the obesity epidemic.
How was the study done? Did they send out questionnaires with questions such as:
1a. Do you get enough to eat?
Option 2 would be to show up at a food bank and ask recipients
1b. Are you a college student?
I think 1a would be a more effective way of doing the study, but follow-up is needed, such as:
2a. Do you get dorm food that you don’t like?
3a. Do you go to food banks for free food?
(If yes, it could be concluded that the student has an
*inability to afford food*)
Also the homeless status is a bit difficult as well. “Couch surfing” at a friend’s house...it could be that the couch surfer is not paying rent, but not necessarily.
Students prefer to spend their money on beer rather than on food.
How many packs of ramen does the cost of an iphone buy?
Of course they’re hungry - munchies are a well known side-effect of smoking weed. Dorm rooms don’t count as a home, right?
The irony is thick there. Maybe they should have taken vocational tech classes and gotten jobs and saved for college. But, the high schools push everybody into college prep now.
Yeah, and the climate is warming, Trump colluded with Russia, Facebook is populated with intellectuals, and illegal aliens bring in more value than money used to support them.
Oh, and one other thing, you can purchase a perpetual motion machine from the DNC for only $1,000.
This is the second such story in a week about how the snowflakes are starving.
Back when I was in college I was married and my wife was still Active Duty and stationed 180 miles from where I lived. I also had a job or two.
She would drive down on Fridays and bring groceries from the Commissary and there would be 10lbs boxes of spaghetti noodles and 5lbs boxes of egg noddles; all unbranded with the military ordering numbers. I also lived on Mac & Cheese at six boxes for a dollar, and a good portion of my meat was venison, rabbit, and game birds I hunted and froze.
We did have a bit of money and would go out once in awhile but we decided to try to put a few bucks in savings and a small investment for retirement.
Your story reminded me of my own. I got this letter from the college I was enrolled at telling me to fill out a questionnaire that would have me swimming in all the available money they had. I had to fill out a substantial list of questions directed towards “Native Americans” and Hispanics.
Two weeks later I got back this quickie; “We are sorry, you don’t qualify for any of our financial gifts.” They solicited me and then spat in my face.
Maybe they are referring to students living in dorms.
It is a shame you had such a hard time. This “hard-hearted” person was an engineering major whose parental assistance for college amounted to about $75 per month (don’t get me wrong, it was appreciated). I had an academic scholarship that covered most of my first year, and I also took out loans, worked two or three part time jobs, full time during the summer, and I graduated in four years. After college I got a job and starting paying back my loans. I ended up dispensing of them 2-1/2 years early.
I had a great time in college. I worked hard and played hard and I would most definitely would not describe my college experience as a “grind”. And thanks to Ramen noodles, cheap pizza and a half-way decent meal plan at the university’s dining halls, I never went hungry unless I chose to.
I simply do not believe that 30% of college students are hungry and homeless.
Not surprised, this is what’s happening to students who are going out of state and paying premium prices for room and board, often opting for the very basic of meal plans and supplementing with groceries they can buy cheaper.
These colleges and Universities are milking the students who have capped their student loan amounts.
If we didn’t make so much money available to borrow, the colleges would have kept their prices in line with actual costs.
Amazing how this just became a huge story recently. Must be because they want to blame Trump.
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