No Hungry Knights Scholarship

No Hungry Knights Scholarship

Created by the Student Affairs Executive Advisory Council to provide full or partial meal plans to students grappling with food insecurity. This scholarship, administered through the Dean of Students Office, examines each applicant's specific situation in conjunction with their financial aid status, to determine eligibility and award amount. The office ensures that all other aid options, including federal and state assistance programs, have been exhausted prior to awarding these scholarships

Donate to No Hungry Knights Scholarship

Student Food Pantry

Created by the Office of Off-Campus Living and Community Partnerships in 2016. In fall 2021, the pantry served more students than ever before with 1359 visits, a 93.5% increase over the 702 visits made in fall 2018. The pantry needs support to continue to meet the ever increasing student need. The pantry is open three days a week, and once a week they operate a mobile service delivering food to three campuses.

Donate to Student Food Pantry

Food insecurity is about more than just food. How can you study when you are hungry and trying to figure out where your next meal is coming from? Or when you are balancing school with a job that pays low wages? When you may be struggling with other basic needs, like transportation, or even housing? We know this is the situation for too many of our students.

Cara Cuite, Ph.D. Human Ecology
Rutgers University

Cuite, C.L., Brescia, S.A., Porterfield, V., Weintraub, D.S., & Willson, K.A. (2018)
RU_Student_Food_Insecurity_2018.pdf

Food insecurity impacts students in a myriad of ways including lower self-esteem and overall physical health, as well as an increased risk of depression and substance use. The 2018 Food Insecurity Among Rutgers Students Survey found the following to be true.

• More than a third of Rutgers students are food insecure.
• Undergraduate students without a meal plan were significantly more likely to be food insecure than their counterparts with meal plans.
• Undergraduates who live off campus are more likely to be food insecure than those who live on campus.
• Food insecurity is associated with lower grade point averages.

Some Common Causes of Food Insecurity Among Students

For young students from well-to-families, spending time as a starving student scarfing ramen noodles is often written off as a humorous rite of passage. But the demographics of typical college students are changing, and for many, hunger is a serious reality.

Sara Goldrick-Rab, Founder
Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

• Delay in receiving financial aid or scholarship disbursements
• Medical emergency
• Lack of money after paying tuition, fees, textbooks
• Lack of money after paying for other basic needs
• Inability to work in the United States (international students)
• Unable to qualify for government aid