For Gen Z, 30 years is far too late for an end to hunger

During a recent interview with one of us, Blake Turpin, a recent college graduate and member of Generation Z, said coming from a low-income background helps him know how to stretch his dollars a little further, but purchasing food “requires taking shortcuts.” 

“I have access to food, but it’s not as nutritious as I would like it to be,” Turpin said. 

A recent Purdue University study found that Gen Z households were twice as likely to experience food insecurity in the first half of 2022 compared to Millennials, Generation X, and Boomers. Thirty percent of Gen Z households reported seeking groceries from a food pantry, church, or other charity in the past 30 days, compared to just 8 percent of Boomer households.

At last month’s White House Conference on Hunger, Food, and Nutrition, there was broad support among attendees for the administration’s proposals to provide free school meals and increase funding for the Older Americans Act’s nutrition programs to improve affordability and access to nutritious food for children and seniors. The conference even concluded with stories from Gen Z changemakers about how they were combatting food insecurity. 

But what about food insecurity among Gen Z adults? How will the national strategy to end U.S. hunger by 2030 help our country’s most diverse and educated generation in history? 

First, let us look at why Gen Z adults are frequenting the local food pantry. Born after 1996, Gen Z adults range from 18-26 years old with an average annual income of $32,500 according to a recent analysis from GoBankingRates. Among generations, they are spending the greatest share of income on food at a time when their buying power has decreased. Many are spending $2,000 a month or more on rent according to Redfin — two and a half times the recommended 30 percent of income for housing. Gen Z is more racially and ethnically diverse than other generations and more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ according to polls by Pew Research Center and Gallup. Both groups experience food insecurity at significantly higher rates than the national average.

As Gen Zers are more likely to pursue higher education than previous generations, the rising cost of college tuition and expenses compounds their financial problems. Thirty-six percent of Gen Z has student loan debt according to an analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and as costs of college rise and much of the young generation continue to enroll or finish college, this figure will also rise. 

According to data from a 2020 national survey by The Hope Center, 44 percent of students in two-year colleges and 39 percent of students at four-year colleges reported experiencing food insecurity in the previous 30 days. A national network of college food pantries has emerged in the last five years in response to the problem, but the scope of the problem is beyond the ability of volunteers or charities to solve it. 

Michelle Fausto, a recent alum of the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship, recalled in a February Congressional Hunger Center blog post what it was like to navigate UCLA as a first-generation college student from a low-income immigrant household. 

“The prestige of my university meant that other students could have wildly different lives from mine…Even with scholarships, I was not making enough to purchase healthy and nutritious groceries and opted to purchase quick snacks and microwave meals. Sometimes, I skipped meals altogether because I didn’t have time to eat in between my commitments. I decided to seek help by applying to CalFresh, which I had familiarity with because my family grew up using it,” she said.

The Biden-Harris administration’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health contained three specific recommendations that could help Fausto and other Gen Z adults entering the workforce or pursuing higher education: 

1. Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. For one year, the American Rescue Plan increased the number of people eligible for this tax credit by removing the age requirements (previously ages 25-60) and increasing the cap on earnings to include workers making just above $10 per hour in a full-time job. Making these changes permanent would help Gen Z make ends meet and reward their participation in the workforce. 
2. Update SNAP college student eligibility guidelines. If education is the gateway to increased income for families, why prevent the diverse population currently seeking higher education from accessing SNAP while going to college? In 2021 Congress made temporary changes to SNAP to allow more college students to qualify, but these exemptions are set to expire in January. The College Student Hunger Act of 2021 proposed new guidelines that make low-income students eligible if they work at least 10 hours a week during the school year, are eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, have an expected family contribution of zero, or are not claimed as a dependent. 
3. Make it easier for eligible individuals to access federal programs. Only 3 out of 10 eligible college students enroll in SNAP according to a 2018 GAO report. USDA should work with the Department of Education to promote SNAP through the Federal Student Aid program and report on changes made before the 2023-2024 school year. 

In 1969, the year of the last White House conference on hunger, the Baby Boomers were taking their first steps towards economic and cultural ascendency. That conference provided us with many of the essential anti-hunger programs that make up our social safety net. Today, a new generation is facing different challenges than the generations before. We owe it to them — and to our society — to do better. 

Shannon Maynard, a member of Generation X, is the executive director of the Congressional Hunger Center. She was a Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow in 1998. Megan Rossiter, a member of Generation Z, is an external affairs associate at the Hunger Center.