Gillibrand Urges USDA To Clarify Snap Benefit Eligibility Rules For At-Risk College Students

WASHINGTON, DC – On March 1st, 2022, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand partnered with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Representatives Al Lawson (D-Fla.), Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), and Norma J. Torres (D-Calif.) in a bicameral effort urging U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Thomas Vilsack to issue guidance clarifying college students’ eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to address the growing food insecurity crisis among college students.

Sen. Gillibrand is calling on the USDA to provide clarification on the SNAP benefits eligibility of low-income students who have been approved for federal or state work study; low-income students enrolled in community college and in four-year college programs that are career-focused or in paths resulting in high employability after graduation; and low-income students with disabilities, including students with learning disabilities and serious medical conditions.

“While we work on securing legislation to both make permanent and expand the [Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act] student provisions, we strongly urge USDA to use its authority to expeditiously issue guidance that clarifies the student SNAP eligibility rules, which would expand on the Biden Administration’s actions to ensure students have access to federal nutrition resources to meet their basic needs,” said the letter.

Research found that college students experiencing hunger have a harder time focusing on their academics. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a GAO report found that thousands of low-income students who should qualify for SNAP never accessed these benefits, in large part because of the complexity of the program’s eligibility rules. Nearly two million at-risk students were potentially eligible for SNAP, according to the report, but did not receive benefits.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated food insecurity and made plain racial disparities in hunger among college students. A nationwide survey of students in fall 2020 by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice found that 70% of Black and 70% of American Indian or Alaska Native students experienced food insecurity, housing insecurity, or homelessness—rates substantially higher than their white peers.

Sen. Gillibrand has been a longtime advocate who has fought for expanding SNAP benefits to help those in most need. She introduced the Closing the Meal Gap Act of 2021, which would expand the baseline benefit for all SNAP households, allocating more funds to those with large medical and housing expenses; as well as the EATS Act, which would extend benefit eligibility to junior college, undergraduate and some graduate students who meet traditional SNAP income and other eligibility requirements.

Support for clarification on college students’ eligibility for SNAP also includes U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

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