NYC Gazette

‘Enhance Access to SNAP Act’ Would Remove ‘Work for Food’ Requirements for Students 

Washington D.C. - Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) joined Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34) and fellow members of the House of Representatives to introduce the ‘Enhance Access to SNAP’ (EATS) Act to address the growing crisis of food insecurity among college students. This legislation would permanently remove barriers to accessing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for college students. Currently, students enrolled in college are forced to work a minimum of 20 hours per week, in addition to their rigorous academic enrollment, in order to qualify for food assistance. Nearly 40 percent of college students in the United States experience food insecurity, and the EATS Act would remove the work requirement for SNAP eligibility.

“No student should ever have to choose between their education and their next meal,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “As the cost of a college education continues to rise, it is vital that we remove further barriers from low-income students seeking higher education. College students sit at the core of the issue of food insecurity, and it is incumbent on us to tackle this problem across New York and the nation. No student should have to worry about where their next meal will come from or strain their already demanding academic schedule to ‘work-for-food.’”

As it stands, students enrolled full-time in the higher education system are blindly prohibited by the Food and Nutrition Act from accessing and meeting the narrow, rarely met exemptions of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Food and Nutrition Act also has provisions that can disqualify any individual living on campus at an institution of higher education from accessing SNAP, purely because they are residing in that institution.

Due in large part to these limitations, college students are more susceptible to food insecurity.

The current standard exemptions include work requirements known as “work for food” rules, forcing students to work 20 hours or more per week in addition to their strict academic enrollment. Under the EATS Act, this unreasonable disqualification and barriers to food assistance will be removed.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was temporarily extended by Congress to include students who were eligible for federal work-study or who had no Expected Family Contribution towards their higher education expenses. While the pandemic has only exacerbated the food insecurity crisis on college campuses, this expanded eligibility is set to expire on June 11, 2023.

The EATS Act aims to make this expansion of SNAP eligibility permanent by modifying the Food and Nutrition Act. The proposed amendment would consider "attending an institution of higher education" as a qualification similar to work.

Original source can be found here.