Objective: Food security status is a continuum ranging from high to very low food security. While marginal food security falls next to high food security on the spectrum, new quantitative research indicates marginal food security status is associated with negative health outcomes and poor academic performance among college students. Qualitative research focusing on college students experiencing marginal food security has not been conducted. This study aims to qualitatively explore experiences of college students with marginal food security and to identify themes to better understand and provide context regarding how marginal food security impacts students. Design: Students were recruited for semi-structured interviews with questions designed to study the challenges associated with students’ food situations. All interviews were recorded and transcribed with themes identified via an inductive approach. Setting: A large public university on the US west coast. Participants: Thirty college students. Results: Key themes that emerged: purchasing cheap unhealthy foods; insufficient time to prepare and eat meals on a regular basis; stress and anxiety around the inability to eat healthy food and future health issues; self-perception of health when eating poorly along with physical symptoms; and low academic motivation by not fully participating in their courses due to few healthy food options or missing meals. Conclusion: Marginal food security can potentially diminish students’ health and their capacity to learn and succeed in their coursework. The results emphasize that students experiencing marginal food security should not be grouped with students experiencing high food security.

Restaurant delivery services have gained in popularity among college students; however, students participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are not allowed to redeem their benefits via restaurant delivery services. This mixed-methods head-to-head crossover trial assessed whether college students experiencing marginal food security prefer benefits via a grocery store gift card (as a proxy for traditional SNAP benefits) or via a restaurant delivery service gift card of equivalent value, and which type of benefit is more effective at improving food security status. Thirty college students experiencing marginal food security were recruited to receive $80 in cash equivalent benefits to spend over a two-month period in the form of grocery store gift cards and restaurant delivery service gift cards. Participants completed surveys and interviews to measure their food security status and share their experiences with each benefit type. After four months of benefits, 48.3% of participants improved their food security status. However, neither type of benefit was statistically better at improving food security status. Most participants preferred grocery store benefits (89.7%) over restaurant delivery service benefits (10.3%). However, more research is needed to explore whether allowing SNAP recipients to redeem their benefits with restaurant delivery services is a viable mechanism to address food challenges among college students experiencing marginal food security.

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Researchers have only recently begun looking at food insecurity on college campuses. Food insecurity is characterized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways due to limited financial resources. Harmony Reppond illustrates this point when writing, “food insecurity for college students can mean running out of food between paychecks, attending campus events in search of food, reducing food intake, purchasing minimally nutritious food that costs less, skipping meals, and deciding between paying for textbooks or food.” Food insecurity is often an invisible condition because of the stigma associated with hunger and poverty. However, the extent and severity of food insecurity on college campuses is alarming. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a literature review and found that college student food insecurity rates exceeded 30% in the majority of published studies. The Hope Center at Temple University conducts an annual survey on student basic needs, which originally covered food and housing insecurity, and has since been expanded to include transportation, childcare, stress, and mental health. Over the last five years this survey has been completed by more than 330,000 students attending 411 colleges and universities, and the Hope Center has found that on average over the last five years 39% of respondents reported being food insecure in the prior 30 days. The rise of student food insecurity is linked to a decrease in public funding for higher education, which in turn has caused a steep increase in tuition rates, combined with more low-income students entering college.

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