Skip to content

CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: School Year Updates for 2020-21 and 2021-22

No Comments
A younger man is smiling and checking out at a grocery store, you can see the cashier, a basket of food, and another person waiting in line.

DATA POINT: CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: A 2021-22 School Year Update PDF

DATA POINT: CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: A 2020-21 School Year Update PDF

PRESS RELEASE: New Research: New Research: Over 240,000 UC and Community College Students Received CalFresh Benefits During Each Year of the Pandemics

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. CalFresh food benefits, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can help students in California pay for food, but may not reach all eligible students. To better measure student participation in CalFresh, the California Policy Lab (CPL) partners with the California Community College system (CCC), the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), and the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). Through this partnership, CPL has created a linked database of student-level administrative data on college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation that makes this analysis possible. This is the second data point focused on CalFresh participation among California college students, our first data point focused on AY 2019-20, and is available here.

Sign up for webinar on new CalFresh research (in May 2024): A forthcoming CPL report will estimate how many students are likely eligible to participate in CalFresh, and of that group, how many are actually enrolled in the program. CPL is holding a short webinar in May to share the findings from that report, people who would like to receive a webinar invite and the new report when it’s released can sign up here.



Stay Informed