For more than 1.2 million New Yorkers, food insecurity is a daily struggle. Facing a rising cost of living, heightened grocery prices and inadequate access to fresh, nutritious food, more than 800,000 households in New York City don’t know where their next meal will come from — and students at NYU are no exception. A 2019 study of 257 undergraduates found that 41% of NYU students met criteria for food insecurity — a substantial increase from 14.6% across the city. 

With meal plans costing up to $3,338 per semester, the university’s standard dining offerings are already inaccessible to many students. Still, on-campus organizations are finding ways to navigate scaled prices without breaking the bank. NYU offers several resources for students looking for cheaper food options — however, they aren’t all obvious at first glance.

Tisch senior Jamie Kimura lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn — a neighborhood that, although is not defined as a food desert, has one of the lowest percentages of supermarkets per resident in New York City. Kimura said that she typically has to purchase her groceries in Manhattan and take them back home.

“There’s a market near where I live, but they’re generally very overpriced,” Kimura said. “For example, a bag of pasta, which is normally $3, is about $7 there.”

Kimura is one of many students that skip meals or eat less in order to save money, especially when swamped with work and assignments.

Steinhardt junior Saylee Nemade, the founder of the All NYU Food Pantry Committee, said she recommends students check out on-campus pantries for accessible staples and emergency resources. 

Established in 2020, the Violet Pantry is the one of NYU’s longest-standing food pantries and completely student-run. More recently, the undergraduate student government at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development developed the USG Food Pantry — following in the footsteps of the School of Professional Studies’ Purple Pantry and the School of Global Public Health’s Marketplace. Nemade said that the smaller pantries within different NYU schools have been largely disconnected from one another, and that the committee hopes increased financial support could improve its accessibility. 

“Funding is a really big issue that we face,” Nemade said. 

Each pantry has a different system for students to access food supplies — some present a QR code for students to scan and select the food supplies available, while others are smaller and ask students to fill out individualized forms. Students can also volunteer at different pantries by contacting each pantry’s respective department or organization.

NYU’s Student Government Assembly, NYU Dining and the Office of the Dean of Students also created the Swipe it Forward program in 2019, which allows students with meal plans to donate up to three meal swipes a day — either online or in-person at select dining halls. However, the efficacy of this program has raised concern, as students who need these donations are limited to  redeeming just one meal a week.

NYU also provides Courtesy Meals, a short-term resource for students who are facing a financial emergency and can no longer afford meals or groceries. The initiative provides $75 in Dining Dollars to students for each Courtesy Meal, but can only be requested up to three times per school year. 

Given the restrictions of university-run programs, some students have taken matters into their own hands. At the end of each semester, many students give out meal swipes via social media, while others use their extra meals in mutual aid. The Community Care Collective, usually based in Washington Square Park, calls on students with meal swipes throughout the year to order meals that can be distributed directly to the city’s unhoused population.

Food insecurity continues to persist both within the NYU student population and broader city community. While NYU’s dining offerings can lack accessibility, students have spearheaded efforts to leverage internal resources to tackle food insecurity within the university community.

Contact Kyra Mehta at [email protected].