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Hunger on college campuses: it's a real thing
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NorthCascades wrote: »You don't have to care about a problem if you can assume it's the person's fault. Anybody who is hungry must be spending their money on things they shouldn't have.
No one cares more than those spending the money of others.
If only caring was a commodity...but alas...that real world and alternative solutions. Much better to believe that one side has a monopoly on caring.4 -
Packerjohn wrote: »From the article:
"An 18-year-old patient of mine recently started college. After overcoming many hurdles in life, including the death of one parent and the absence of the other, this outstanding athlete and student was recruited by a coach at a four-year university—and given a full scholarship. But I’m worried: will my patient have food insecurity"
The writer should not worry.
From the NCAA website:
Full scholarships cover tuition and fees, room, board and course-related books
http://www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/scholarships
Are there college students that are hungry? I'm sure there are. However the author lost all credibility talking about a full scholarship athlete and food insecurity.
Most sports do not offer all athletes full scholarships, even in D1. And a full scholarship in D3 is rare. When I've worked D1 doing compliance: football (American), men's and women's basketball are the full coverage sports. The rest of the teams often don't have the budget to fully cover their teams. They may cover tuition, but room and board are usually partial. And student athletes will be really hard pressed to find a job with hours they can work outside of class and practice.
I had a kid that was getting some athletic scholarship offers so I understand about partial scholarships. However, the article went out of its way to specify FULL scholarships which do cover room and board.1 -
seltzermint555 wrote: »
Also, my alma mater now posts on facebook near-daily about free pizza, subs, ice cream, etc, provided by local businesses at various events on campus. Not limited to on campus students, either. Students certainly could make a meal of the freebies on a regular basis. Obviously that doesn't apply to everyone at every school.
That reminds me of my best friend in college. The only reason he was able to go to college is he got a scholarship - every penny his parents could scrape up that first year went for room and the minimal 'board' plan. That plan was 12 meals a week. He had literally no discretionary money, so we spent our freshman year going to every university event where he could get food for free. He snitched soaps from the university bathrooms to save money. But he was mostly too proud to let his friends help.
He moved off campus sophomore year thereby cutting his expenses in 1/2. Eventually he got some good paying part time work and his money problems ( and food insecurities) became a thing of the past. But that first year, yeah he often was hungry. Never had to worry about starving to death, but certainly insecure about getting a proper amount of food each day.
I don't have a point, just remembered him.5 -
I never actually starved, but I did live almost entirely on oranges and egg sandwiches (oranges were ten cents a piece, and so were stale loaves of bread) while working, working hard to keep my scholarship and staying with whoever would let me crash with them. It's not a fun way to live. I don't understand the hostility here. This is an entirely voluntary charity and they can give their money to whoever they want. If they want to make students less miserable and you think students should be more miserable, just don't donate to them. Or go kick a student or something if you think kids today need to suffer because you're still bitter about your own past suffering.20
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I went to a 4 year college my first 2 years, we got 2 meals during the week, and one on the weekends. I lost 15 lbs because of all of the walking from class to class. Then I transferred to a 2 year college, that didn't have a meal plan. I lived in the one small dorm, and we were given a small dorm fridge - we had to buy our own food. I remember having 10 bucks a week most times to buy food with. I lived on Ramen noodles and Kraft Mac and Cheese. My parents were broke at the time and couldn't contribute much either. I couldn't go out and party - couldn't afford it. I also couldn't have a part time job because I'm physically disabled and couldn't be a waitress or work on my feet. So there are some who do really struggle. But it's also a part of college.4
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I think its just part of being a student you have a minimal income but a lot of expenses . Especially if you do not have rich parents and live in a country that Does not have a good scholarship program. I know a lot of students which would fall under this its not that there is a risk of actually starving but there is not much room for extras like going out. I lived on instant noodle n getting stuff from local farmer markets they offer a good price just before closing on Saturday afternoon even lower than the supermarket.0
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I thought the stereotype was college students miraculously surviving on Ramen and bummed cigarettes, why is this so hard to believe?
I don't know, it's not difficult for me to believe that young people are growing up in lower middle class families so don't have enough money to be comfortable but have too much money to get aid, being told that the only way to make a decent living is to get a degree, so are working to pay for tuition and books and don't have enough left to feed themselves properly. I can feel sorry for them and hope they get help while still acknowledging that there are probably better decisions they could have made or ways they could help themselves. I made a lot of crappy decisions when I was that age and luckily didn't end up in the poorhouse or the hospital. But I can be honest and say there was luck involved.
I thought the article was more geared toward making parents aware this could be a problem, and the charities mentioned are focused on educating students & their families (as well as schools) on how to fix the problem - why is that so horrible? I don't get the venom in this thread, I guess we're at the point that if you've ever made a bad decision your struggles are deserved and shouldn't be acknowledged.9 -
janejellyroll wrote: »
Someone can be fortunate in the sense that they are going to college and still have real problems. If someone was going to college and had cancer, I wouldn't scoff at their "first world problems." Same with not having enough to eat. It's a real problem, even if you're a college student.
Being in the First World and earning a minimum wage puts one in the top 10% of income earners worldwide.
All Americans have one testicle and one ovary. Now we've both said something statistically true that loses meaning when we talk about individuals.
It's great people make more than a goat herder in Ethiopia. Too bad about first world living expenses though.12 -
Mark Twain told us there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Now we see why.2
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When I was in college, one of my roommates would have been fit the bill of food insecurity (Though we did a lot to help her out). Both her parent had died by the time she was 16, with no other family to take care of and help out. Rather then deal with foster care, she immacipated herself from the state and managed to complete highschool and raise herself on a minimum wage job.
While she was able to pay for tuition with a complex set of scholarships and Pell grants, none of that covered her room, board or books (It's actually rare for non-atheletic scholarships to cover room and board at all). While she worked full time, while going to school fulltime, her pay check barely covered the rest of her tuition, rent, utlities and books. Usually, by the end of each month, she was essentially living off of Ramen and peas.
We tried to help where we could, but she was the type to be too prideful to take money from us. We had already started a household habit of communial dinners before she had moved into the house. But even when she couldn't contribute to the grocery bill, we'd usually quietly cover her share and insist she'd eat the meals anyway.
She wasn't an anomoly at our university either. Majority of my friends and peers didn't come from wealthy families. Most came from lower middle income to poor families. While tuition was covered using scholarships/grants/loans, most paid for their day to day living off of what little they could make from part-time jobs. Ramen and mac and cheese where stables of the college diet.
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College for me was late 70's early 80's. There were no student loans. I drove a rusty 1964 Pontiac LeMans convertible with over 180,000 miles (I still miss that car).
Ramen noodles, cheap hot dogs, Hormel chili, spaghetti, Totino's pizza, eggs and potatoes were the norm. If I wanted to eat better I hunted and fished and/or worked more hours at K-Mart, or cut, split, deliver, and stack firewood, and also mowed grass. BTW - I got $40 for a full cord (4' x 4' x 8'). I got $15 for cord-wood, cut at 4 or 8 feet in length and sold to the Kingsford plant the next town over. About once per month, when the Wendy's all-you-can-eat soup/salad bar had something that resembled chili, we would splurge and eat out. We always seemed to have money for cheap beer on Friday and Saturday night too.
I dropped out of school one spring/summer to make more money so I could afford to go back to the University in the fall. It took me 5.5 years to get my engineering degree from start to finish. I also weighed 135 pounds when I graduated college on my 6' 0" frame. Everything seemed normal too and we weren't complaining.
Moral of the story: If you want something bad enough you will sacrifice to get it because the reward is worth the sacrifice.
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I think growing up is going through times of insecurity about food and housing, and other things. I bet kids who don't go to college are food insecure around that age too. We can help alleviate some of it -there a lot of events on campus which have food- however we are also trying to teach students responsibility, and sometimes that means going hungry because you spent too much elsewhere, or just because you really don't have the means. But the way I see it, we all have to learn how to budget and control our money at some point. Sometimes we have to sacrifice comfort for that education. College isn't just about what you learn in the classroom.3
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Odd. I'm a college student and I have no issues buying enough for the month. What the heck is their budget?? So give up th idea of eating steak and lobster! A 10lb bag of chicken leg quarters is .60-.79 cent a pound so 7$-8$ per bag. That will last a single person at least two weeks! (Should be more like three but whatever..) A head of lettuce will last a single person a week. .99 cents. Lunch meat that isn't the greatest? 2$. Should come with 12-14 slices. Loaf of bread is .98 cents for Walmart brand. I'm not seeing the issue here except maybe these kids want imported wine on beer budgets.11
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One of my fellow students last term literally lives in a van. My girlfriend in freshman year was homeless. Of course college students can have trouble with affording the ammenities, and it's barely comparable to when some of you in this thread went to college. But the article, meh, this isn't happening as much with kids with full scholarships.4
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This crossed my mind and was actually mentioned by a neurologist (can't remember his name). But because of all the "multitasking" that everyone is trying to do, our brains become "overloaded" in thinking. Now because that takes energy and carbs are the easiest source of energy for many, carbs are taken in a much higher volume than the other macros. So I wouldn't be surprised that many people who spend a lot of time studying, end up eating consistently. Now mind you this may just be correlation, but I'll try to find the neurologist who wrote about this.
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janejellyroll wrote: »To those who are reacting so negatively to the idea that people in college can experience food insecurity, is the thought that bad things can't really be happening in someone's life if they're going to college?
Note that a good chunk of these students are going to community colleges. This isn't a case of Yale students spending their allowance on alcohol and iPhones and having to skip some meals until they get more money from their parents. That isn't what is being discussed here.
I went to a community college for two years and then a public state college after that. The pressures of paying rent, keeping a car running, getting food . . . these were reality for me and many of my classmates. And that's on top of the regular college expenses. Some people are fortunate enough to have parents help them out, but there are many students who don't have that. A college student can be just as vulnerable to hunger as anyone else.
I pretty much fitted the bill for food insecurity in college and it wasn't a matter of not handling my finances well...I've always handled my finances well which ultimately led to me going into accountancy and a career in accounting...
When I was in college I worked as many hours as I could work while still managing to get to class and study. I brought home maybe $800/month. My rent alone was more than half of that for a tiny little one room apartment in a crappy neighborhood. Then I had tuition and books to deal with along with other bills like utilities, etc...and then finally food.
I started college with a car and quickly realized I did not have the means to fuel it, pay insurance and repair it, so I sold it and bought a bike. In the summers I worked full time in landscape construction and moonlighted at the store I worked at during the school year for some extra cash that I could put away for the school year...
But having enough money for food was still an issue and at certain times of the month was very much a question mark. I subsided largely on beans and rice as a dietary staple. Getting a whole chicken or chicken parts on discount was a real treat.
I started out at community college too before transferring to the University to get my upper level credits. My parents were poverty level for most of my life and unable to help with college or anything like that, so I was on my own in that regard.
It's not a sob story...it is reality for a lot of students. Not everyone gains the freshman 15...I sure didn't. Things turned the corner for me when I met my now wife who was already graduated and starting a budding career and was kind enough to make me something for dinner other than rice and beans and chicken legs a couple nights per week...13 -
janejellyroll wrote: »To those who are reacting so negatively to the idea that people in college can experience food insecurity, is the thought that bad things can't really be happening in someone's life if they're going to college?
Note that a good chunk of these students are going to community colleges. This isn't a case of Yale students spending their allowance on alcohol and iPhones and having to skip some meals until they get more money from their parents. That isn't what is being discussed here.
I went to a community college for two years and then a public state college after that. The pressures of paying rent, keeping a car running, getting food . . . these were reality for me and many of my classmates. And that's on top of the regular college expenses. Some people are fortunate enough to have parents help them out, but there are many students who don't have that. A college student can be just as vulnerable to hunger as anyone else.
Well said. I teach at a community college, and many of our students are on pell grants. Many have families, so it isn't just them. A group of instructors and staff have opened a food pantry. Instructors who know of students in need can refer them. It is nice, but I am sure it doesn't come close to what is needed.9 -
I'm all over the place when it comes to this topic and I fully admit it.
I've become pretty annoyed with the general attitude of people around me that when you're in college, whether you are 18, 25, or 46, you are exempt from all or most normal life responsibilities. I think that's a crock. I also think it's ridiculous that almost every twentysomething I know lives at home with their parents for 4-5 years (or longer) post-college even when they have jobs, because I feel like it builds character to start your independent adult life when you are young and struggling is part of that.
But on the other hand, I know things are really different now than they were in the 80s and 90s, and I think it is important to note just HOW different. When I was in college during 1995-2000, my (state school) tuition was around $2,000 per semester. Now at the same university it's $6,800. I earned between $6-8 per hour at my cashier, clerk & entry level social services jobs and I worked full-time so I was able to pay for a low cost apartment, gas, insurance, groceries, and cover my books & tuition that my small scholarship didn't cover (when I say "small scholarship" I mean it...roughly 20% of my tuition). Right now in my small Midwestern city, entry level jobs pay $8-10. $12 if you're really lucky. Just quickly running those numbers, it is clear to me that it's not the same ballgame for college students today. My first apartment was $360/month and there is literally nothing here for that now. My city has one of the lowest cost-of-living in the U.S. too. It's just not the same world as it was in 1989 or 1999 or even 2009. So when some of us look back to our college days it's not really fair to compare apples to oranges.
BUT that's also why I roll my eyes when I know 27 year old college graduates making a very nice salary who live with their moms and can't imagine ever having to rent, or drive a used car, or not have cable AND Hulu AND Netflix...and so on and so on forever.1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »
Someone can be fortunate in the sense that they are going to college and still have real problems. If someone was going to college and had cancer, I wouldn't scoff at their "first world problems." Same with not having enough to eat. It's a real problem, even if you're a college student.
Being in the First World and earning a minimum wage puts one in the top 10% of income earners worldwide.
All Americans have one testicle and one ovary. Now we've both said something statistically true that loses meaning when we talk about individuals.
It's great people make more than a goat herder in Ethiopia. Too bad about first world living expenses though.
Let's make an offer to both the impoverished US college student and Ethiopian goat herder to change places.
If after a year it's not working out both parties are allowed to return to their original places, only both have to agree to it.9 -
My DH is a professor at state U in the MidWest and food insecurity is a huge problem in his college. Fees for in-state students are around 12k (6k a semester for tuition) a semester. There is no "free three meals a day" - there is a $4,500 semester room and board fee. This is due at the beginning of the semester so many students try to avoid the upfront costs by by forgoing room and board and living on their own.
There are part time jobs in the area but most pay minimum wage (around $8 an hour) and most students can't work around their school schedules to fit in full time work.
My DH's school was seeing big drops in attendance around the first of the month as people scrambled to work extra shifts to hit their rent.
The faculty started a food pantry and it is utilized regularly by students (and adjuncts - but that is a whole other problem).6
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