College is expensive. Each year the cost of living plus tuition plus school supplies is steadily increasing. This means that the number of college students going hungry is steadily increasing too. Though the exact number of hungry students is hard to gauge, according to Hunger in America 2014, 31% of students report having to choose between paying for school and paying for food.

The job market, in recent years, has proved to request employees have a certain level of higher education and in most management positions prefer employees have education beyond a bachelor’s degree. To compete in the job market, a college degree is a must which means more lower-income populations are going to college. Food insecurity in return has thus moved up to engulf the middle class and has hunger spreading across university campuses like never before. Food insecurity simply refers to students that don’t know where their next meal is coming from or they don’t have access to enough food to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

Some students think that moving off of campus will help in saving money. Instead of paying for a meal plan that ranges in cost per semester and can be in the upper thousands, the plan to move off campus sounds more appealing.

Many students have to pick up extra jobs to help pay for food costs which takes away from study time. Often graduate level students also have children and families of their own in addition to their need for food. Graduate students are usually made to fend for themselves, unlike undergraduate students who can more easily call home for help or to have money sent to them.

In effort to help ease the hunger pains, many campuses are opening food banks. These food banks offer nonperishable food items to university students. Many food banks will also provide common items for baby needs. Visiting a food pantry has a stigma of its own. Most students feel like they have to be poor or claim being poor to take items from a food pantry. There’s a level of pride that stops a student from accepting resources available to them.

But students at West Texas A&M University react in a different way and pull together to collect more donations for the food pantry on campus. To further engage students in the donating process, Buffs for Cans will host different lunchtime events. If a student brings can donations they can receive a hot bowl of soup in return. In addition to that, students across campus are more willing to pick up the cost of lunch for a friend or gather in groups to make a community dinner. In this small town atmosphere, students are able to rely on others to help them when it comes to the hunger issue. This provides campus unity and allows for the stigma behind donations to fade.

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, students will be able to visit the food pantry before campus closes. This way they will have an opportunity to pick up the necessary goods to participate in the holiday season.