Supporting Young People's Food Security: CalFresh Participation During and After High School

• In Event: The Potential of Public Benefit Programs to Address College Student Basic Needs and Support Academic Success

Abstract

The transition from high school to early adulthood is a time when students must learn how to handle elements of daily life independently, and a particularly challenging time to experience food insecurity . Students who previously had access to food benefits in high school, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may have trouble retaining that support, particularly if they move away from home and must re-apply on their own. Special restrictions on college students’ access to SNAP may present another barrier. Connecting more young people to the public benefits they’re eligible for may help equip them to succeed in college or their early careers.

The California Policy Lab (CPL) partnered with California’s education and social services agencies to build a linked database of student-level administrative data on student enrollment, financial aid, and SNAP participation (called CalFresh in California) to make research on this topic possible. This report provides new insights on participation in CalFresh during the final years of high school and the first few years after high school, and the factors that influence whether students continue to receive benefits. In this report, we focus on the public high school graduating classes of 2015-2021. 

We find that in California, over a quarter (28%) of students in the graduating classes of 2015-2021 participated in CalFresh at some point during high school, and 19% participated during their senior year. However, two years after their high school graduation, fewer than half (47%) of students who participated during their senior year of high school were still participating in CalFresh. 

Among students who enroll in college immediately after high school, those who go to the University of California (UC) are more likely to continue participating in CalFresh than students who attend a California Community College (CCC). This is due, in part, to the fact that UC students are more likely to remain eligible for CalFresh than CCC students. 

The high school classes of 2020 and 2021, who graduated during the pandemic, were more likely than earlier cohorts to continue accessing CalFresh upon entering college. This may be due to pandemic-era policies that made it easier to enroll in, and stay enrolled in, CalFresh during college and that increased the amount of monthly benefits. In addition, students who participated in CalFresh for a longer period of time in high school were more likely to continue participating in college. We also find significant variation in who stays enrolled in CalFresh during college by race and ethnicity and indicators of disadvantage, which has implications for outreach efforts.

Of  students who stopped participating in CalFresh when they entered college, we estimate that more than half (60%) were still eligible. Many of the remaining 40% were no longer eligible because of the “Student Rule” that makes it harder for college students to qualify.

The findings from this study point to opportunities to re-examine college student eligibility rules and to expand outreach to students who remain eligible upon entering college but do not stay enrolled. 

Author

• Jennifer Hogg, University of California, Berkeley
  Presenting Author