When Steven Gray’s family first received their monthly EBT allowance, the trips to Costco were “life-saving.” Gray said that when he was growing up in South Brooklyn and struggling with food insecurity, running out of funds often meant scrambling to make money with their siblings to help their parents afford groceries. Later, as a financially independent undergraduate student, Gray applied for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program themselves. After being accepted, they were finally able to fill their own refrigerator. “SNAP is not only just food being put on the table,” said Gray, now a student at Columbia Law School. “It’s stability for the future.”

At midnight on October 1, as President Donald Trump’s administration fought to withhold funding for the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, the chaos and uncertainty around the program led Gray, one of the more than 3 million college students eligible for SNAP, uncertain of their next meal. “We shouldn’t be waving around SNAP benefits and other social benefits as political bargaining chips,” said Gray.

The temporary pause on SNAP benefits during the government shutdown only exacerbated the larger food insecurity crisis among college students, especially in New York City. In 2019, nearly 50 percent of students in the City University of New York system were reportedly food insecure. Food costs have risen more than 30 percent over the last decade. and more than 40 percent of families cannot afford the average median price of weekly groceries. Without reliable access to food, students have lower GPAs, worse mental health, and are less likely to get their degree.