GREELEY -- When he was a freshman living in the dorms at the University of Northern Colorado, Ryan Wood would sometimes face a choice late at night: Would he be exhausted the next day, or should he steal some dinner from the communal refrigerator?
"I was so hungry at times," Wood said, "that I couldn't sleep."
Wood no longer has to make that impossible decision. He volunteers at the Bear Pantry, UNC's food bank for students, but he remains a client. Many students in universities across Colorado face the same occasional hunger: More than half of UNC's students, 57%, said in a survey that they faced food insecurity.
UNC hopes to address student hunger by opening a new Center for Student Well Being at the start of the spring semester that will triple the size of the Bear Pantry and will help students find other resources, such as federal food benefits, to keep them full.
The survey suggests that a majority of UNC's students don't always have access to food or might skip snacks or rely heavily on fast-food dollar deals.
Wood, 22 and now a senior, admits he's not dirt poor. He doesn't have student loans but also doesn't have a car and relies on UNC's meal plan. The limited hours don’t always fit his schedule. Grocery stores are scarce around UNC; King Soopers is about a mile walk away. Wood also can't afford DoorDash or rides to stores.
"Sometimes they won't get any food at all," Horn said of his regulars. "They just want to stop in and say hello."
Student hunger isn't just a UNC problem. Colorado State University estimates more than 40% of its students face some sort of food insecurity. Nationwide data released by the U.S. General Accountability Office showed about 3.8 million college students experienced food insecurity in 2020.
"Just about every college is thinking about this," Hancock said, "and it's getting worse."
In 2014, UNC started the pantry on student urging with volunteer support. Now it’s tripling in size with full-time staff supervision.
"Anything I can do to build my community," Schiestel said.
The Bear Pantry goes beyond supplying food; it teaches grocery shopping skills and healthy recipes for leftovers.
"Groceries are expensive now," Schiestel said. "I think we can all acknowledge that."
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