By Danielle Smith

The Pennsylvania Department of Education is awarding $1 million in Hunger Free Campus grants to 30 colleges and schools to help address student food insecurity.

Now in its fourth year, the program has supported 92 institutions statewide since 2023. Carnegie Mellon University just received its fourth $60,000 grant.

Elizabeth Vaughan, associate dean of student affairs and director of community engagement and leadership development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said the bulk of the Hunger Free Campus dollars will support a variety of food initiatives, including what is known as the “Meal Swipe” program to help students who have the highest levels of need.

“This ‘Meal Swipe’ program offers an additional resource to those students to be able to eat at our ‘all you care to eat’ dining facility on campus and also a secondary location that has allergen-free options,” Vaughan explained.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has secured a total of $3 million for Hunger Free Campus grants in the last three state budgets. Grant recipients are using creative approaches to improve food security, from offering flexible meal plans meeting SNAP requirements to launching meal-sharing programs, training student leaders and building new community partnerships.

Vaughan pointed out a school pantry provides nonperishable food, hygiene items and fresh produce. She noted the grant funding will also provide assessments to gauge student needs and quick meals for nutrition, all through the school pantry.

“We’ve partnered with Chartwells to design this frozen meal program,” Vaughan emphasized. “We are providing frozen, ready-to-heat meals that have a higher nutritional content.”

Chartwells is the university’s dining vendor. She underscored Carnegie Mellon has a diverse student body, and most of the food for its campus pantry comes from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Vaughan added grant funding will also support repackaging of bulk foods into smaller quantities and they plan to hold focus groups to learn more about students’ needs.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.