Community college students with CalFresh benefits can purchase food almost anywhere, except the place where they often spend most of their time: school.

That’s because most institutions do not accept that form of payment at their campus stores or dining halls. Southwestern College wants to change that.

Come the fall semester, the community college will be the first in the region to accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and EBT payments, once known as food stamps. That means students will be able to use their benefits at Southwestern’s on-campus food services, cafes and forthcoming cafeteria.

“We have an obligation to do what we can to make sure all of our students have an affordable and nutritious meal when they come here to take classes,” said Kelly Hall, vice president of the college’s Business and Financial Affairs. “It was an equity issue and I felt like we really need to make this work to help support our students.”

CalFresh is California’s food program that gives eligible people money for groceries via an EBT card that works like a debit card. More than 4 million people receive CalFresh benefits, with an average of $166 per month, and about 127,300 beneficiaries are college students, according to the state Department of Social Services. In San Diego County, more than 501,800 people were CalFresh recipients as of May, according to the county’s Health and Human Services Agency.

Southwestern officials said they don’t track how many of its 28,000 students have CalFresh benefits, but believe there is a need to access food based on other indicators. For example, they know that more than 70 percent of students receive some sort of financial aid. A February 2020 survey showed that 52 percent of 500 students who responded suffered from one or more insecurities, including food, housing and employment. Other surveys revealed that students stay on campus an average of up to six hours a day.

“Let’s say you have a student that takes a class at 9 a.m. and then another class at maybe 2 p.m. They stay here because they’re using public transportation and don’t have the luxury of hopping into a BMW and going home for lunch. That’s not who our students are,” Hall said.

That was “the lightbulb moment” for her, she said.

Two years ago, Hall and college governing board member Leticia Cazares started looking into what it would take for Southwestern to become an EBT retailer. They learned that of California’s 116 community colleges, only 11, such as Los Angeles Community College District, offer the payment service.

There was a lot of trial and error in becoming an EBT retailer because the application to do so is geared more toward commercial businesses and corporations, officials said. Once approved by the county and federal government, the college spent about $12,000 to change its sale system hardware so that the same devices that accept debit and credit cards also accept EBT cards.

Students will notice big signs, Hall said, that will indicate where EBT will be accepted. There will also be an education component to inform students of their eligibility for benefits and how to apply.

CalFresh is largely underused, in part, because of state and federal eligibility criteria that disqualify most full-time students. The criteria do have exceptions, such as if a student works a minimum of 20 hours per week or is a single parent to a child under 12. While about 127,300 students do receive food benefits, anywhere between 416,400 and 690,000 are likely eligible, according to the state Department of Social Services.

Due to the pandemic, eligibility guidelines were relaxed under a state law that passed last year, but many were still unaware they qualified, according to a March report from The Hope Center.

“This has serious implications for students’ lives as food insecurity can influence their well-being and academic success,” read the report, which added that the pandemic showed that traditional approaches to college outreach like using flyers and posters were ineffective strategies to inform students about support services, such as CalFresh.

That’s why Southwestern will offer workshops and personal assistance to help eligible students complete the application, officials said.

The forthcoming SNAP and EBT program at the college is part of a broader effort to support students. Most recently, Southwestern College announced it received state funding to explore the feasibility of building student housing, which is rarely seen at community colleges.

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