Emory Undergraduate Journal of Law & Society

Take a look at the campus around you. If someone were to ask you to state what one of the biggest food-related issues facing students is, what would you say? Some might say the lack of dining options, inflated food truck prices, or even the closure of Cox dining hall. However, what often goes undiscussed and unnoticed throughout campus culture is the prevalence of food insecurity among students. Food insecurity can be defined as an economic and social condition of “limited or uncertain access to adequate food” [1]. Within the Emory community, the issue may be hard to spot due to the ingrained nature of systemic barriers to food access and the unavailability of resources. Still, this does not mean that the issue is non-existent. From academic years 2016 to 2019, Student Intervention Services saw an 80% increase in the number of students requesting assistance with food-related needs [2]. In more recent years, a survey conducted in 2022 found that 36.8% of Emory students faced food insecurity [3]. Put into perspective, Emory’s proportion of students facing food insecurity is higher than the national average, which sits at 23% for undergraduates and 12% for graduates [4].

To date, Emory University has attempted to mediate these disparities through the introduction of food assistance programs such as the Food Security Safeguard Program (FSSP). Created in 2017, the program was developed to address growing concerns surrounding food availability and is meant to provide immediate access to meals for students who face food insecurity or financial hardship [5]. Specifically, through FSSP, students can receive three meal swipes per semester to Emory’s Dobbs Common Table (DCT), attempting to ensure that no student goes hungry. Other initiatives include the community fridge and pantry located in the Alumni Memorial University Center (AMUC), Campus Dining Services’ food waste reduction policy, and the emergency assistance fund to cover immediate needs. While these policies and interventions, put in place by campus leadership, have contributed to positive change on campus, there is still room for improvement when it comes to their practicality and impact within the Emory community. For instance, from the student perspective, the inadequacies of FSSP are apparent in that only three meal swipes are offered a semester, leaving students with an insufficient number of opportunities to secure food. Another shortcoming is that the community fridge in AMUC can sometimes lack supply as it relies on donations, potentially leaving some community members without access to food resources [6]. The negative impact of these limitations is made even more evident by the fact that dining hall locations across campus saw a 4.5% to 6.5% increase in price [7]. 

To alleviate the current shortcomings of these programs, campus leadership should implement policy revisions that center around both long-term sustainability and expanded availability. Increasing financial support for programs such as FSSP and augmenting access to the emergency fund by allocating more meal swipes per semester and offering long-term assistance can help immensely. Evidence for the effectiveness of such a change can be seen in West Virginia University’s (WVU) current model, “Share-a-Swipe,” where students can donate unused meal swipes to peers in need or to their on-campus food pantry [8]. Expansive initiatives like such have contributed to WVU’s food insecurity rate of 7.1%, falling far below the national average [9]. Additionally, Columbia University has also expanded their emergency relief fund, with students able to receive $2,000 or more for ongoing financial hardships [10]. Currently, Emory’s fund is designed to provide only short-term assistance to students, which may vary depending on each situation and is capped at $500 [11], leaving students with limited room for ongoing circumstances outside of their control. Revising the current fund with an increased window for financial support and supplementing meals with unused meal swipes can help to offset the current increase in dining option pricing. Adopting the policy recommendations stated here and learning from other universities would create a campus environment that fosters student well-being both in and outside of the classroom. 

References

[1] U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. (2025). Food security in the U.S. – definitions of food security. Food Security in the U.S. – Definitions of Food Security | Economic Research Service. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security.

[2] Emory University. (2025). Grow student food security at emory. Completed Momentum Projects. https://momentum.emory.edu/project/28225.  

[3] Emory University Campus Life. (2022). National Collegiate Health Assessment (NCHA): Emory university: Atlanta ga. National Collegiate Health Assessment (NCHA) | Emory University | Atlanta GA. https://campuslife.emory.edu/well-being/ncha.html.

[4] McKibben, B., Wu, J., & Abelson, S. (2023, August 3). New Federal Data confirm that college students face significant-and unacceptable-basic needs insecurity. The Hope Center. https://hope.temple.edu/npsas.  

[5] Emory Campus Life. (2025). Food security safeguard program: Emory University: Atlanta ga. Dining. https://dining.emory.edu/resources/FSSP.html.

[6] Emory University. (2023, August 31). Food Resources. emory.gs.edu. https://gs.emory.edu/_includes/documents/sections/guides/food-resources.pdf.

[7] Marksman, A. (2023, October 18). Dining prices increase at emory. Dining prices increase at Emory – The Emory Wheel. https://www.emorywheel.com/article/2023/10/dining-prices-increase-at-emory.

[8] West Virginia University Dining Services . (2023, December 1). Dining services: Share-a-swipe to help fight food insecurity. Dining Services | West Virginia University. https://diningservices.wvu.edu/events-and-specials/dining-news/2023/12/01/share-a-swipe-to-help-fight-food-insecurity.  

[9] Zein, A. E., Shelnutt, K. P., Colby, S., Vilaro, M. J., Zhou, W., Greene, G., Olfert, M. D., Riggsbee, K., Morrell, J. S., & Mathews, A. E. (2019, May 29). Prevalence and correlates of food insecurity among U.S. college students: A multi-institutional study – BMC public health. BioMed Central. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-6943-6/tables/2.

[10] Columbia University. (2025, March 21). Columbia University Caves to demands to restore $400m from Trump administration. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/21/columbia-university-funding-trump-demands. 

[11] Emory University. (2025). Student Hardship Fund Application – financial aid at emory. student.aid.emory.edu. https://studentaid.emory.edu/_includes/documents/sections/undergraduate/managing/student_hardship_fund_application.pdf.