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CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: School Year Updates for 2020-21 and 2021-22

DATA POINT: CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: A 2021-22 School Year Update PDF

DATA POINT: CalFresh Participation Among California’s College Students: A 2020-21 School Year Update PDF

PRESS RELEASE: New Research: New Research: Over 240,000 UC and Community College Students Received CalFresh Benefits During Each Year of the Pandemic

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. CalFresh food benefits, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can help students in California pay for food, but may not reach all eligible students. To better measure student participation in CalFresh, the California Policy Lab (CPL) partners with the California Community College system (CCC), the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), and the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). Through this partnership, CPL has created a linked database of student-level administrative data on college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation that makes this analysis possible. These are the second and third data points focused on CalFresh participation among California college students, our first data point focused on AY 2019-20, and is available here.



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