A half-million-dollar budget proposal could be a game-changer for Virginia college students struggling with food insecurity. Advocates are urging House lawmakers and Gov. Glenn Youngkin to follow the Senate’s lead and support the funding, which would establish a food pantry grant program to help students in need.
“This is a budget amendment where, if D.C. rips public benefits away and Virginia legislators are not funding basic needs works on their campuses, we’re going to have an exponential growth in the number of Virginia students who are dropping out of school,” said Robb Friedlander, director of advocacy at Swipe Out Hunger, a nonprofit tackling student food insecurity.
Friedlander pushed back against the perception that college students are mostly middle- to high-income and white. The reality, he said, is that today’s student body is far more diverse. Many are first-generation students, over half are financially independent from their parents, and the majority juggle part-time jobs while pursuing their degrees. A quarter of college students in Virginia are also parents.
Read more at Virginia Mercury.
