- By:
- Category:
Berkeley, January 16th, 2025 – The nonpartisan California Policy Lab (CPL) released new research today showing how enrollment changes at California Community Colleges during the first two years of the pandemic affected how many students were eligible for CalFresh. CalFresh is California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and students can use the benefits to purchase groceries. The research also shows how pandemic-era policy changes broadened who was eligible to receive CalFresh and also nearly doubled the amount of monthly benefits that people received. The new research shows that prior to the pandemic, about 23% of all California Community College students were eligible for CalFresh, but as a result of temporary policy changes, that share increased to 31%.
“There were countervailing changes in student eligibility for CalFresh during the pandemic,” explains co-author Jesse Rothstein, Professor of Public Policy and Economics at UC Berkeley and the faculty director of the California Policy Lab’s UC Berkeley site. “Fewer students met the income criteria for CalFresh, however, among students with low incomes, federal policy changes made it easier for them to qualify for CalFresh, and increased their monthly benefits.”
“During the pandemic, Congress made the complex rules that govern CalFresh eligibility for students simpler, and our research shows those temporary changes dramatically increased the number of low-income students who were eligible for CalFresh,” comments co-author Jennifer Hogg, the Senior Research Manager at the California Policy Lab’s UC Berkeley site. “Simplifying those eligibility rules, even temporarily, meant more students were eligible to receive CalFresh, a key insight for policymakers who want to better support students.”
“These changes only applied to low-income students, so they were well-targeted, and they also made it easier for students to understand if they were eligible,” adds co-author Dr. Johanna Lacoe, the Research Director at the California Policy Lab’s UC Berkeley site. “One of the takeaways from our analysis is that it’s possible to make the eligibility rules less onerous for college students to participate in CalFresh, while ensuring the program stays targeted to students with low incomes.”
Enrollment in the California Community College system declined by over 20% between Fall 2019 and Fall 2021. During this time, students who were enrolled had higher incomes, on average, and were more likely to live with their parents compared to the student population prior to the pandemic. This meant fewer students met CalFresh eligibility rules tied to income. Enrollment changes also varied considerably across regions and fields of study, and among subgroups like gender, enrollment type, and race and ethnicity.
However, in early 2021, Congress added two new, temporary exemptions to the so-called “Student Rule.” The Student Rule was intended to prevent college students who were receiving financial support from their parents from also receiving SNAP benefits. These two, temporary exemptions meant more low-income students were eligible for CalFresh. As a result, among students whose incomes were low enough to qualify for CalFresh, the share who met an exemption (required to qualify for CalFresh) almost doubled — increasing from 35% in the Fall 2018 to nearly 69% in Fall 2021.
Congress also increased the size of monthly SNAP benefit amounts, through three changes, which went into effect in Spring 2020 and during 2021. Following these changes, California Community College students saw their monthly benefit amounts nearly double, from $123 a month in Fall 2019 to $245 per month in the Fall of 2021.
Background on CalFresh and this research
This research is made possible through the new 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, and is led by Professor Jesse Rothstein, the Carmel Friesen Chair in Public Policy and David Gardner Chair in Higher Education and a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at UC Berkeley.
CalFresh is California’s version of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also commonly known as Food Stamps. In recent years, California has worked to help more eligible students receive CalFresh (for example, by funding Basic Needs Centers that help students to sign up for CalFresh), but these efforts have been hampered by a lack of understanding about how many students are eligible, and of that group, how many participate. College students also face a unique set of eligibility rules that advocates suggest may deter students from applying or continuing to participate in CalFresh.
To conduct this research, the California Policy Lab (CPL) partnered with the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), and the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) to build the first-ever linked database of student-level administrative data on college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation. The report includes in-depth explanations of the methodology used to create the estimates and limitations with the research.
For more information about CPL’s Student Supports project, please see this overview.
###
The California Policy Lab is an institute based at the University of California that generates research insights for government impact. Through hands-on partnerships with government agencies, CPL performs rigorous research across issue silos and builds the data infrastructure necessary to improve programs and policies that millions of Californians rely on every day.