A new study by the Community College Equity Assessment Lab at San Diego State University finds that nearly one third of community college students experience housing insecurity and 12 percent are subject to food insecurity.
Housing insecurity is defined as “homelessness or the lack of affordable housing, poor housing quality, crowding, or frequent moves.” Food insecurity is defined as “the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or the ability to acquire such foods in socially acceptable ways.”
The study also breaks down the data by race and gender. The data showed that 48.4 percent of Black men and 41.1 percent of Black women expressed housing insecurity. These were the highest rates among any racial or ethnic group in the study.
Nearly 23 percent of Black men reported food insecurity. This was far higher than the rate for other racial or ethnic groups. Only 9.9 percent of Black women reported food insecurity, a rate lower than the community college population as a whole.
The study, Struggling to Survive – Striving to Succeed: Food and Housing Insecurities in the Community College, can be accessed here.
