According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, about 3.8 million college students experienced food insecurity in 2020.
Fortunately, the Dean of Students Office at BYU has a food insecurity program meant to help students dealing with this issue. They refer students to various on and off campus programs to receive the help they need and avoid going hungry.
Kyle Slaughter, an employee at the Dean of Students Office who helps support the food and housing insecurity program, said this program is relatively new, starting in the fall of 2022. While the office has always helped with food insecurity, they did not have a formalized program.
“There's a lot of research that was done by some student groups back in kind of 2019 through 2021, that pandemic era, that kind of precipitated the adoption of a more formal program,” Slaughter said.
Slaughter explained that when a student comes into the office to seek assistance, they try to understand a little bit more about their situation.
He also said the typical appointment happens in the following manner
“[We] bring you back, introduce ourselves to each other, find out a little bit more about your background, and then find out what you're hoping to get out of the appointment,” he said.
They then address the concerns students might have, including rent, food and concerns about finances.
“Based on that, we typically will look at finances," Slaughter said. “So sometimes we'll go over, I should say most of the time we're going to go over kind of costs.”
Afterwards, they will go over those finances, and the office will identify what the current position of the student is. Based on how the student is doing financially, they will identify what is the gap.
“If [a student] says, 'hey, I really don't have any food to eat. I'm really hungry and there's this resource gap,' then we'll probably provide some food resources," Slaughter said. "Generally that's through meal vouchers to the Cannon Center.”
Depending on the student's situation, they might occasionally take them out to a grocery store and assist them.
Afterwards, they will talk about the students’ plan and their next steps to improve their situation so they can become more financially self-reliant.
They will also take about the different resources that exist as well including the Bishops' Storehouse, a food assistance program The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has to help those in need, at the recommendation of the bishop of their local ward or branch.
Other outside resources available to BYU students include the Community Action Service and Food Bank, Tabitha’s Way local food pantry, Food and Care Coalition and SNAP.
Kara Smith, the social outreach coordinator at Tabitha’s Way, spoke on helping BYU students struggling with food insecurity.
“A lot of us know what it's like to be in college and not have a lot money for food — just trying to get by, so yeah, we get it,” Smith said.
Besides receiving food, she also said a lot of BYU students come to volunteer, including those who once needed help receiving food.
“A lot of times we notice the students will come back and volunteer afterwards, so they always pay it forwards, so we appreciate that,” Smith said.
Brent Crane, director of the Food and Care Coalition, said they serve three meals a day, six days a week and on holidays and Sundays, they serve a lunch with a sack lunch to go. There were over 105,000 meals served last year.
He also said they don’t keep track of whether a needy person coming in is a BYU student, but a lot more of them volunteer for the community.
“We love the BYU volunteers,” Crane said. “We wouldn't be as connected as we are if we didn't have an affinity for them.”
Whether looking for volunteer opportunities or food, resources in the community are there to help fight food insecurity at BYU.
Slaughter hopes that students struggling with this issue can feel confident coming to the Dean of Students Office and having a conversation about it.
“There's a lot of really good resources out there that can be beneficial for students and we love to help put students in touch with them,” he said.
For those struggling with food insecurity, visit the BYU food insecurity website to learn more about the food resources available in and out of campus.