An Examination of Food Insecurity within Connecticut’s Public University System

ABSTRACTThis secondary analysis examined the differences in food security, knowledge of eligibility for food assistance programs, and access to food programming across students attending two- and four-year public postsecondary institutions in the state of Connecticut. This study found two-year college students experienced a higher prevalence of food insecurity and were also more aware of their eligibility for SNAP than students attending four-year institutions. Additionally, all institutions provided students with an on-campus food pantry. Further research is needed to understand differences in food security and opportunities to address student barriers to the use of available resources to support food security.KEYWORDS: College studentscommunity collegefood insecurityhungeruniversity AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank Dr. Bill Gammell for leading this study of college food security. Additionally, we thank the participants for sharing their experiences.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Author contributionsJ.A., L.N. and V.Z. conceptualized the manuscript, wrote and edited the manuscript, conducted the analyses and researched data. All authors reviewed and commented on subsequent drafts of the manuscript.Jennifer Anziano MPH, Southern CT State University.Latasha Neal BS, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management, University of Mississippi.Data availability statementThe dataset from this research will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.Additional informationFundingWe did not have funding for this study.