California Community College and University of California student participation in CalFresh food benefits

DATA POINT: California Community College and University of California student participation in CalFresh food benefits 

PRESS RELEASE: New Datapoint Shows How Many UC and Community College Students Received CalFresh Benefits in 2019-20

The CalFresh program, also known as SNAP or food stamps, can help college students make ends meet while attending school, but it’s been unclear how many students are accessing and benefiting from this program because of data limitations. To address this need, the nonpartisan California Policy Lab (CPL) is partnering with California’s higher education and safety-net systems to build a linked database to bring together data about college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation. As part of the Student Supports Project, CPL released a new data point today that provides original estimates of the number of University of California (UC) and California Community College (CCC) students who were enrolled in CalFresh during the 2019-20 Academic Year. The data point reports CalFresh participation rates among student demographic groups, campuses, community college regions, and financial aid status.

Select Media Coverage

KQED: College Students: Your CalFresh Eligibility Is About to Change. Here’s What to Do (April 6, 2023)

The California Aggie: CalFresh financially supported almost 5,000 UC Davis students in 2019-2020 (April 21, 2022)

LAist: As CalFresh College Eligibility Narrows In June, Students Are Stepping Up To Help Peers Navigate The Enrollment (April 17, 2023)

Daily Cal: Study examines food insecurity in California’s higher education system (March 8, 2022)

GV Wire: Valley College Students Needn’t Go Hungry, Says One Who’s Been There (March 4, 2022)

KPBS: TV interview and article: Data shows more than 21,000 San Diego college students are receiving CalFresh food assistance

KPCC: Feb 24th segment

UC Davis Enterprise: CalFresh provides vital support for UC Davis students (Feb 25, 2022)

Capital Public Radio: Feb 23rd segment

UC Berkeley News: Student use of state food aid widespread, and increasing, says new Berkeley report (Feb 24, 2022)