Colleges have high rates of food insecurity and food waste. Students are helping address both.

Created for students, by students, Zot Bites is a notification system that invites people to collect leftover food after a catered event on campus: Those who opt in receive a text alerting them where and when the food is available. The program is the work of the UC system’s Global Food Initiative fellows, part of an effort to address both the problem of food waste from UC campuses and an ever-growing concern among students across the country: food insecurity. Zot Bites was inspired by similar initiatives in California, such as the Food 4 UCSF Students app and Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Bites, to tackle an emerging crisis one meal at a time.

During the fall 2020 semester, the first full term during the pandemic, nearly 30 percent of students at four-year colleges and universities were struggling with food insecurity, according to a study conducted by Temple University. For those at two-year colleges, the number was even higher –– with more than 40 percent of students reporting that their access to adequate food was limited or unreliable. The crisis may now be even worse, as the government has ended the pandemic-era SNAP benefits that helped an estimated 3 million students by loosening the eligibility requirements. As a result, many students will lose the monthly food allowances that they have relied on for years — and some have argued that reverting back to the old requirements may deter prospective students from enrolling at all. 

Food insecurity — defined as the lack of consistent access to enough healthy food — is often under-examined and under-addressed in the population of college students. The cause behind this crisis is complex, involving factors like increased education costs, rising living expenses and economic shifts in the college environment. Mirroring the significant disparities in food access more broadly, first-generation students, students from low-income households, students of color and disabled students are at higher risk of becoming food insecure than their classmates.

The impacts extend far beyond the lack of access to nutritious food. To make their food dollars stretch, students often choose cheaper processed foods like boxed and packaged items, and overconsumption of added sugars, trans fats and refined grains means food-insecure students are at higher risk of developing obesity. They can also face worsened health outcomes such as poor psychosocial health and higher risk of chronic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. This all profoundly impacts their ability to succeed: A study at one university found that food-insecure students had an average GPA of 3.33, while students who do not have to worry about food had a 3.51 average. Given the combination of the effects of this crisis, affected students often fail classes, delay graduation or even drop out of college.

“Bruin Dine was created by UCLA alum Joshua DeAnda after he witnessed the dining halls throw away pans of untouched food daily,” explained Megan Cai, Bruin Dine’s vice president. “Since then, our organization and events continue to be entirely student-led and student-run. If a student is unable to afford groceries or cannot feed themselves for any reason, they can rely on our events.” During the 2022-23 school year, the initiative recovered approximately 9,300 pounds of food and served nearly 5,000 diners.

Sometimes, food rescued on one campus can feed students on another where food insecurity is a larger concern. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the food-rescue organization Food For Free collects leftover food from dining halls at Harvard and Tufts Universities — packaged into single-serving meals by student volunteers — and delivers to local community colleges through a program called Heat-n-Eats. Institutions like MassBay Community College in Wellesley gladly accept these deliveries, as food insecurity plagues over half of the school’s population. The system has been going strong since 2016. “We know that rates of food insecurity among college students are extremely high,” said Molly Hansen, senior program manager for Heat-n-Eats. “It can be a beautiful full-circle impact of food waste reduction at a college, and creating a new food distribution channel to meet those in need at another local school.”

In addition to starting conversations with their college’s Basic Needs Office or Food Resource Center, students who want to take action can get in touch with national organizations working on the issue of college hunger. Joining (or founding) a campus Food Recovery Network chapter can be a way to direct food recovered from dining halls back to peers in need. Swipe Out Hunger supports anti-hunger work at more than 600 colleges; schools in the Swipe Out network have access to swipe-drive toolkits and other resources, and are eligible for grants to fund initiatives like food rescue.

“Even one just one donated and consumed meal can mean the difference between passing a test or leaving higher education,” said Jaime Hansen, Swipe Out Hunger’s executive director. “The next wave of students shouldn’t have to choose between higher education goals and their basic needs.”