The Senate Committee on Education on Wednesday supported the Plan Against College Hunger Act by State Senator Henry Stern (D-Canoga Park) in a unanimous 6-0 vote.

Describing her own experience with food insecurity to the committee before the vote, Nikki Dalupang, University of California, Irvine student and Cal Grant recipient, said, “I would skip breakfast, try to make a small, cheap meal like a smoothie or sandwich for lunch and try to have dinner at least five times a week.”

“We’re fighting every day to secure the means to eventually provide for ourselves while we currently can’t,” said Gezel Ligeid De La Ciel, a community college student. “But so many more of us would be completing if we were just getting a little more help.”

The Act would create the Plan Against College Hunger (PACH) Program within the Student Aid Commission. Recipients of Cal Grant B, the state grant program designed to provide college access to low-income students, would be eligible for a supplemental PACH award based on the typical cost of a ten-meal-a-week plan at the type of institution they attend.

“There are students living in their cars in one of the richest states on the planet, students living on a dollar, two dollars a day to try to feed themselves,” Senator Stern said. “We can’t expect to be the greatest state in the country and the greatest economy on the planet if we don’t invest in young people and defy this injustice.”

“We aren’t doing a good enough job of making sure that you can get your education, that you can eat not just food, but healthy nutritious food,” committee member Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino) said.

Speaking in support of the measure, Maggie White, student at CSU Stanislaus and president of the Cal State Student Association (CSSA), said, “You can likely imagine just how difficult it would be for a student to pay attention in class, let alone retain the necessary information to succeed at a high level and graduate in a timely manner, when all they can think about is their hunger and where they might locate their next meal.”

As the bill works its way through the process, Senator Stern and his staff will work closely with the California Student Aid Commission to ensure that the program in its final form works well with a planned overhaul of the larger grants program.

The bill’s next stop is the Senate Appropriations Committee where it is scheduled to be heard later this month.​

Ed. Note: The above information was provided to KHTS by the Office of Senator Stern.

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