College Students: Correlation

Between Food Security and

Academic Performance
Megan Ellett, Lauren Piette, and Blaike Trujillo
Our Goal
● To see if there is a correlation between student success and their ability
to fully satisfy hunger.

● Discover if living in a food desert hinders student success.

● Bring awareness to this issue.

Questions We Asked
1. What is your current year of study?
2. What is your GPA?
3. Do you live on or off campus?
4. Do you have access to a motor vehicle?
5. In the last week, have you skipped a meal to save money?
6. In the last week, have you eaten less than what you’d consider a “full meal”?
7. Does hunger or stress about your next meal impact academic performance?
8. Does feeling “hungry” affect your academic performance?
9. How close do you live to a grocery store?
10. Are you working while in school?
Results
● We had 50 responses and the data was interesting to say the least.
● After conducting research and analysing our conducted data, we have
come to the conclusion that all undergraduate students have some level
of stress regarding food cost concerns.
● Interestingly enough, the group of students in our survey that reported
having high levels of meal stress was Freshman students.
● Before we conducted our research, the group predicted that food security
would be heavily correlated with one’s GPA. However, through our data,
this proved to an inaccurate prediction, as only 3.6% of students reported
that food availability concerns impacted their academic performance.
Class Representation
● 46% Freshman
● 24% Sophomore
● 18% Junior
● 12% Senior
● 0% Graduate
● 0% Post-Bacc
Grade Point Average Details
● The average GPA: 3.3

● Most frequent GPA: 3

● Median GPA: 3.3

● Maximum GPA: 4.3

● Minimum GPA: 1.9

Personal Details
● 68% of students lived off campus, and 70% of students held a job
Transportation and Distance
● Majority of students noted that they did have access to a vehicle and that
the grocery store was about five miles from their home.
Skipping Meals
● We found that Freshman
and Sophomores were
more likely to skip a meal
due to financial means.
Full Meals Aren’t Always a
Reality
● It was determined that many
students across the board ate
less than what they’d consider a
full meal.

● It’s not necessarily due to the

price of groceries, however that
would be an interesting avenue
to explore in the future.
Academic Performance
● Freshman and Sophomores
were also more likely to say that
stressing over their next meal
led to worse academic
performance.

● This group noted the lack of

ability to focus.
Academic Performance
● Over 40% of all responses
stated feeling hungry
impacted their academic
performance.

● It is still apparent that our

youngest students are the
most effected.
How Can We Combat This
Problem?
● Our research study has shown that not having sufficient funds or access
to a steady, predictable food source is a major problem affecting,
specifically, undergraduate college students.

Moving Forward:

● We as a society need to help our younger students find inexpensive

nutritious meals, proper budgeting, and overall support.
● The lack of food in certain areas could be seen as taboo, we need to tell
our fellow students it’s okay to reach out.