Food is a Big Deal: How University Administrators Characterize Student Food Insecurity

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12. Underserved and First-Generation College Student Experiences

Abstract

College student food insecurity remains a persistent and inequitable problem in U.S. higher education, with prevalence estimates ranging from 26 to 60 percent depending on institutional context and student demographics. While food insecurity is associated with negative physical, mental, and academic outcomes, it is often normalized as a “rite of passage” or not talked about, hiding the problem. This study examines how university administrators understand, communicate, and respond to college student food insecurity, using symbolic violence as a central theoretical framework. This theory is drawn upon by illuminating how institutional and cultural narratives obscure structural conditions by framing food insecurity as an individual failing rather than recognizing its systemic nature and broader political-economic arrangements.

Drawing on qualitative interviews with thirty-five administrators across six Colorado institutions, including public flagships, regional universities, and community colleges, this study explores two research questions: (1) How do administrators understand and communicate the structural barriers and symbolic stigma surrounding student food insecurity? and (2) How do stigma and notions of “deservingness” shape administrative approaches to addressing food insecurity? Interviews were conducted between December 2025 and May 2026 and preliminary results will be shared from a larger project.

Preliminary findings reveal that administrators often hold complex and contradictory understandings of food insecurity. Many articulate a structural awareness of rising costs, declining public funding, and the political-economic contradictions of higher education, yet frequently default to individualized, short-term solutions. Administrators also report progress in reducing stigma and increasing institutional awareness but hold differing notions of the current overall culture regarding addressing and acknowledging food insecurity.

By foregrounding administrators’ perspectives, this study highlights how symbolic violence shapes institutional responses to food insecurity and constrains possibilities for transformative change. Ultimately, it calls for reimagining the future for addressing food insecurity in higher education, especially toward equity- and justice-oriented solutions.

Author

• Amber Nicole Obermaier, Colorado State University