First Generation college student hunger

 By: Sierra Dawson

                                         First Generation College Student Hunger

First generation college students face more food insecurity then second generation. Research shows that 49% of first-generation college students face hunger compared to 39.6 of second generation. I interviewed four different first-generation college students, all who feel they were not prepared for the college life. Had no idea what it was going to be like and what the struggles they will face. Two of them have chosen between paying a bill or eating before. Three out of four work fulltime just to get by. Two out of the four have had to take a semester off of college just to catch up on life and not struggle. Living on campus and having access to a cafeteria helps a student who doesn’t work but is a lot of times unavaible for those who do.

Jason Mazonella is an education major at Amarillo college, who works full-time as the general manager at braums. He has to dropped classes over the years, due to working a lot and not having enough energy after work. His diet is primarily fast food because it is convinent to him after working a long shift. Jason has also lost quite a bit of weight in the last couple months due to working a lot and trying to balance school which leads him to forget to eat at times. He has to do online classes, because of his work schedule he opens, closes, and work middays at times. The only meal he seems to have time to eat during the day is lunch, which is usually when he is on break at work. He said “sometimes I’m too busy to think about eating.”

Leta Hull, goes to South plains college and works full-time and is currently saving money for her wedding. She eats a lot of fast food through the week due to being tired. She admits to choosing work over homework at the end of the day to survive. She has always had to do everything on her own and it has put her behind school at times. She has dropped classes due to working to working a lot and having to choose food and bills.

Uriel Barrera, who you can listen to in the audio piece, admits that when he lived in founders at West Texas A&M last semester, he didn’t always have access to the cafeteria despite paying for a meal plan. He worked a full-time job that required him to be there 8 hours a day, five days a week while tending morning classes. He also has always stayed for overtime shifts and about a month ago took on a second job to help pay bills. He feels he had to try to make time for the cafeteria. He admits what helped him get through the semester was having dining dollars that he could spend at the pods to stock up snacks in his room. During his night shifts when he got off work, he wasn’t able to go to cafeteria to get food. He said “Sometimes I would have to rush to go to the cafeteria and eat” which made eating nutritious meals hard for him. 

            According to Skyler J. Andrews 81% of students report food insecurity affecting their academics, also 42% of all colleges students face hunger. 57% percent of Black/African American face the highest rates of food insecurity. A surprising fact is that 50% of community colleges have higher food insecurity then 4-year universities. A fact that I think heavily relies on that dining halls are only open during certain times is that 43% of students on meal plans still report food insecurity.

            First generation college students have a lot of challenges they already have to overcome and food insecurity adds to it. When multiple students tell me stories of choosing rent between school, you realize how hard it is for everyone. They are actively setting their dreams aside or pushing them back to just survive. Dreams they’ve had since they were little. Each year they drop a class or take a step back increases the chance that they may drop out.

West Texas A&M cafeteria is only open certain hours and days. This makes it hard for some college students to access the West Texas A&M dining hall, when they they have other obligations. Students who live on campus and do not work rely on the dining hall which is not open Friday-Sunday, this means they have to rely on fast food or snacks in their dorms. 

  • Breakfast
    • Mon - Fri7:00AM - 10:00AM
  • Brunch
    • Sat - Sun11:00AM - 2:00PM
  • Lunch
    • Mon - Fri11:00AM - 2:00PM
  • Dinner
    • Mon - Sun4:45PM - 8:00PM
  • All Day
    • Mon - Fri7:00AM - 8:00PM
  • Late Night
    • Mon - Thu8:30PM - 11:00PM
    • Fri – Sun Closed

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