For years, the small University District pantry, just blocks from the University of Washington, has offered help to the working poor and single parents in this neighborhood of campus rentals. Now rising food prices are bringing another group to the food bank: Struggling college students.
“Right now, with things the way they are, a lot of students just can’t afford to eat,” says Terry Capleton, who started a Facebook group called “I Ain’t Afraid to be on Food Stamps” when he was a student at Benedict College in South Carolina.
Some of the students are working their way through college with grants, loans and part-time jobs.
“More and more, it’s just the typical traditional student, about 18 to 22, that’s feeling this crunch,” says Larry Brickner-Wood, director of the Cornucopia Food Pantry at the University of New Hampshire.
“There’s definitely been an increase in usage and demand. We’re seeing more and more students that have never used the pantry before.”
In the past year, the price of groceries has jumped nearly 5 percent, the greatest increase in nearly two decades. The cost of some staples has shot up by more than 30 percent.
At the University District pantry in Seattle, demand has risen roughly 25 percent this year. About 150 students visit each week during the school year.
