SNAP Reform Needed NOW!
AFT Local 212 along with many other organizations, including the FAST Fund, have signed on to support improvements to SNAP. SNAP reform is needed now more than ever as 4.3 million students in higher education experience food insecurity, and undergraduate students experience food insecurity and hunger at twice the rate of all U.S. households.
We, along with 168 other undersigning organizations are asking for congress to:
Streamline SNAP eligibility by allowing enrollment in higher education to satisfy activity and participation requirements, and putting students with low incomes on equal footing with other individuals who are eligible for SNAP
Reinstitute bipartisan provisions providing access to SNAP for students who do not have the financial means to contribute out-of-pocket to higher education
Expand and simplify student exemptions to include populations of students at high risk of food insecurity
Remove administrative burdens such as the mandatory interview requirement that impedes access to SNAP and cause many otherwise eligible households, including college students, to become food insecure
Clarify and facilitate the ability of institutions of higher education to accept SNAP on campus
Require and provide funding for proactive outreach, coordination, and data-sharing among and between the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Education, Internal Revenue Service, state SNAP agencies, and institutions of higher education to facilitate enrollment of potentially eligible students into SNAP
Require state SNAP agencies to collect and disaggregate data on the number of SNAP recipients that are currently enrolled in higher education
More details can be found in the letter HERE
