When SNAP says no, where do students go?

Sophia Parkins
A box of Lucky Charms, a popular American cereal, sold for $4.97 on Sept. 29, 2026, at the Aldi in College Park, Maryland. Students cite the store as one of the city's more affordable choices. (Sophia Parkins/The Black Explosion)

Trinity Foster grew up low-income and on food stamps. Now, the government has denied SNAP benefits to the University of Maryland student. The cause, she says: her 50-meal connector plan.

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is more commonly known as food stamps. In Maryland, the program has fed over 680,000 people a month, according to the Maryland Department of Human Services. From last November up to July, at least 35,861 residents lost benefits.

“I can only go [to the dining hall] about three times a week,” Foster, a sophomore English and sociology major said. “That’s not enough for … a whole week’s worth of dinners.”

Under federal rules, students are ineligible for food stamps when their school provides more than half of their meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the assistance program, considers those students residents of an institution. 

Foster’s experience points to a gap between nutrition programs and the college students who need them. SNAP criteria make it hard for students to qualify, so many turn to the Campus Pantry.

Tighter Requirements

Congress passed H.R. 1, a budget compromise bill, on July 4, 2025. Also known as the Big Beautiful Bill, it tightened SNAP eligibility requirements, disqualified many who were previously eligible under benefit reductions and placed an emphasis on disqualifying noncitizens — increasing the financial burden on states.

LaMonika Jones, director of non-profit food insecurity advocacy organization Maryland Hunger Solutions, said H.R.1 changed who counts as a dependent and who is exempt from SNAP’s work requirements, which call for at least 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, community service or training. 

Before the bill, Jones said, a dependent was anyone who was 18 and under, and adults over 54 were exempt from work requirements. Maryland had a statewide waiver program for high unemployment and job shortages. Refugees, asylum seekers and other protected groups could also receive SNAP. 

But starting last November, only children under 14 are considered dependents, and adults ages 55 to 64 must meet the work requirement. That means retired elderly adults are being “forced to go back to work,” Jones said. All Maryland waivers have expired, and refugees, asylum seekers and other protected groups cannot receive benefits. 

“It’s always been really difficult for college students to participate in SNAP because they have to meet a 20-hour-per week work-study requirement,” Jones said.  “Now we’ve added an extra layer [of difficulty] for them.”

Help from the pantry

With SNAP even harder for students to get, the Campus Pantry is seeing new visitors.

Marcelle Casey, a senior marketing major and manager at the Campus Pantry, says that although students have not explicitly mentioned SNAP, more undergraduates are walking through its doors. The pantry is open [when open] and Casey said regular visitors in past years have been international and graduate students.

Cost is what brings students in. In an email to The Black Explosion, Casey said students tell pantry staff that groceries are extremely expensive and that they “wouldn’t be able to survive without the pantry” because their jobs don’t pay them enough.

Joy Hu is an international doctoral student studying second language acquisition.  She lives with her boyfriend on a fixed graduate teaching assistant salary.

“I have to use it wisely,” she said. “It’s tough. It’s tough.”

Hu buys meat in bulk at Costco and Aldi and freezes it instead of visiting pricey stores like Whole Foods. She visits the campus food pantry twice a week.

Akunna Okonkwo, a senior public health science major, used the pantry for the first time over the summer. Because the pantry is donation-based, she said, “the food is inconsistent.” Students can’t count  on fresh produce like strawberries and blueberries to be there every week, she said, and for someone low on money who wants a “well-balanced diet,” pantry options can be “very restricting.” 

Okonkwo proposed that the university offer reduced-price dining hall meals for SNAP-eligible students looking for something “healthy [and] hearty.” Still, tightened eligibility requirements would make it harder for students to qualify for such a program.  

Chamika Ellis, the care manager for Fostering Terps Success, a part of the Thrive Center for Essential Needs at the university, said students who seek out SNAP but do not qualify or lose benefits are referred to the Economic Crisis Response Grant and the Campus Pantry.

“From the Thrive Center’s perspective,” Ellis said in an email to The Black Explosion, “students seeking support often highlight the difficult decisions between ensuring their tuition is paid and basic needs [are] being met.” 

For off-campus students, Ellis said the difficulty can be amplified by “transportation barriers and limited access to campus resources” because many are balancing academics with work schedules. 

Foster, the sophomore English and sociology major, doesn’t have a car, so her mother drives down once a month to bring her groceries. The pantry, she said, is something she relied on “ in my times of need.” But she also feels it could be open on more days and lacks options for students with dietary restrictions, such as vegetarians and religion-based diets.

“The school seems to rely on students to do a lot of heavy lifting, like clubs and whatnot, to do philanthropy towards other students,” she said. “But if you’re cutting back on SNAP benefits, then students aren’t going to have the resources to help other students.”