Berkeley, May 4, 2026 – Community college students who receive CalFresh during their first year of college are more likely to stay on track academically and return for a second year, according to a new working paper from the California Policy Lab and the Center for Studies in Higher Education.
The research finds that students who maintained CalFresh benefits throughout their first year were more likely to complete a full-time course load (30 or more credits) and more likely to enroll the following year compared to similar students who were eligible for benefits but did not receive them.
“This research shows that when students can reliably meet their basic needs, they are more likely to stay on track and succeed in college,” said co-author Igor Chirikov, Director of the Student Experience in the Research University Consortium and Senior Researcher at the Center for Studies in Higher Education. “Helping students maintain uninterrupted access to CalFresh could be a simple, cost-effective way to improve college outcomes at scale.”
“While it intuitively makes sense that when students have enough to eat and are less financially strained, their academic outcomes would improve, this study lets us measure that effect much more precisely,” explained co-author Jesse Rothstein, Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy, David P. Gardner Professor of Higher Education, and Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley, and Faculty Director of the California Policy Lab’s UC Berkeley site. “By comparing students with similar backgrounds and financial circumstances, we’re able to isolate the role that food support plays in improving student outcomes, marking an important step forward in understanding how safety-net programs support student success.”
The study’s approach to isolate the impact of CalFresh means the findings are more precise than previous research. Because students who receive benefits often differ from those who do not, the researchers compared students who were alike in key ways (including income, family background, and prior participation in CalFresh), but differed in whether they continued to receive benefits consistently during their first year of college. The analysis provides the clearest picture yet for how access to food support affects academic progress. The study also adjusts for a wide range of student and family characteristics, strengthening confidence that the differences reflect the impact of CalFresh itself.
Key Findings
- Receiving CalFresh benefits causes students to be more likely to complete a full-time course load (30 or more credits) during their first year of college (+1.4 percentage points, 5% increase) than comparable, eligible students who did not receive CalFresh.
- CalFresh also raises persistence in college — students who received CalFresh were also more likely to re-enroll for a second year of college (+2.6 percentage points, 4 percent increase).
- For students whose goal is to earn an associate’s degree or to transfer, CalFresh’s impact on credit completion was slightly larger (+1.8 percentage points).
While these gains may appear modest, the program is relatively low cost. A year of CalFresh benefits averages about $860 per student, far less than many traditional student success interventions, which can cost thousands per student per year. A simple cost-effectiveness analysis shows that the academic gains per dollar spent are higher for CalFresh than for many commonly used interventions. The authors also note that CalFresh has other benefits that are not captured in this analysis, including improved food security, reduced material hardship, and higher monthly consumption.
The working paper and an executive summary of it are available on the Center for Studies in Higher Education’s website.
This research is conducted through the California College Data and Policy Project (CCDPP). The Project is a joint initiative of the California Policy Lab and the Center for Studies in Higher Education. The CCDPP generates new insights and research on what works to better support California students and their families as they transition through the education system.