On-campus food pantry awareness and use among undergraduate students: who are we missing?
Creators: name: Santora, Emily
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2022

description: Statement of Problem: Food insecurity is prevalent at Rutgers University-New Brunswick (RU-NB), so the Rutgers Student Food Pantry (RSFP) was created in 2016 to help combat the issue. This is an important resource because of the potential consequences of food insecurity, such as poor health and academic difficulties. Not all students who need the food pantry may be aware that it exists. Understanding which groups of students are less likely to be aware and therefore may need more outreach from the RSFP is important for creating targeted outreach campaigns, which may result in higher rates of RSFP awareness and use.Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the awareness and use of the on-campus student food pantry at Rutgers University New Brunswick campus. This study will focus primarily on undergraduate students attending RU-NB. The research being conducted will provide insight on which groups of students are less likely to know about the RSFP and use the RSFP. Methods: An online survey was conducted in 2019 at RU-NB addressing student basic needs such as food insecurity, on-campus pantry use, and housing insecurity. All RU-NB students were invited to participate with 5,063 undergraduate students completing the survey, representing a response rate of 14.5%. Secondary data analysis was conducted using bivariate analyses, chi-square tests, and post-hoc tests of column proportions are presented to identify differences among groups of students in terms of food insecurity, awareness of the RSFP, and use of the RSFP.Results: The results indicated that 31.5% of undergraduate survey respondents at RU-NB reported experiencing food insecurity. Specific groups which experienced higher rates of food insecurity were women, racial and ethnic minority students, first-generation students, third- and fourth-year students, and employed students. Overall awareness of the on-campus food pantry among undergraduates was 69.2%, and overall use was 2.6%. When examining demographic factors, those less aware of the RSFP were men, Asian Americans, non-citizens, and first-generation students. Those more likely to use the RSFP were African American, Hispanic, non-citizen, and first-generation students. In terms of student characteristics, first-year, third-year, part-time, students with no meal plan, off-campus, commuters, and food insecure students were less aware of the pantry. Those more likely to use the RSFP were third-year, fourth-year, students with no meal plan, off-campus, non-commuter, employed, and food insecure students. Conclusions: A significant portion of food insecure students at RU-NB reported being unaware of the RSFP. Importantly, students experiencing food insecurity, the very group for whom the RSFP was created, are less likely than food secure students to be aware it exists. Therefore, additional outreach from the RSFP could increase awareness of the resource among students experiencing food insecurity, as well as other groups of students who are less likely to be aware of the RSFP, including, Asian American students, men, non-citizens, first-generation students, off-campus, commuter, part-time students, first-year, third-year, students with no meal plan, and food insecure students. Hopefully this targeted outreach will increase usage rates and help alleviate the health and academic consequences of experiencing food insecurity. Recommendations for outreach strategies were provided to the RSFP, including increased collaboration with student government organizations, expanded social media and email use, and increased promotion in various locations based on the groups of students who were found to be less aware.