This post was updated Oct. 25 at 12:30 p.m.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that CalFresh benefits could be suspended next month due to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The shutdown – which began Oct. 1 – came as a result of a standoff between congressional Democrats and Republicans on a bill to fund the federal government past Sept. 30.
CalFresh, California’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides about 5.5 million low-income Californians with federally funded food assistance.
A UC Office of the President spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the UC is expecting 58,000 UC students to be affected by delayed CalFresh benefits. The University is encouraging campuses to create food emergency response teams and expand programs such as food pantries, gift cards, grants and on-campus dining operations for expanded meal support.
“The university will continue to work closely with our campuses, local food banks, and county, state, and federal partners, to provide ongoing support for impacted students,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “UC urges the administration and Congress to take the necessary steps to reopen the federal government and complete critical fiscal year 2026 appropriations negotiations, ensuring that the SNAP program is fully funded.”
Approximately fifty thousand UC undergraduates and 8,400 graduate students received CalFresh benefits in the 2022-23 academic year, according to the California Policy Lab. Nearly 21% of UC undergraduates and about 12% of graduate students also used CalFresh at some point during the academic year, according to the report.
Over 17,000 UC students submitted CalFresh applications in the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to a UC report.
“CalFresh benefits help students pay for food while they’re in school, and about one in five UC undergraduate students receive CalFresh,” said Jesse Rothstein, the faculty director of the California Policy Lab’s UC Berkeley site, in the report. “Students use these benefits to afford their groceries, so if they don’t receive the benefits next month, then they will face some painful decisions about where to pull from their already limited budgets.”
A UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement that Monroe Gorden, Jr., the vice chancellor for student affairs, is creating a working group to assess the potential impact of the suspension. Students facing a disruption in accessing basic needs should reach out to UCLA’s Economic Crisis response team, they added in the statement.
“The University is aware of the potential impacts on students who rely on CalFresh for basic needs,” the spokesperson said.
Newsom announced that if the shutdown continued past Thursday, the United States Department of Agriculture – which manages the SNAP program and provides funding to state SNAP programs – would not have enough funding to continue distributing SNAP benefits in November.
Bryce Connor, a fourth-year political science student who receives CalFresh benefits, said he found out that he could soon lose his benefits from a text message. Connor added that, as a result of the lapse in benefits, he will be forced to pay for groceries with money from his UCLA Housing job alone.
“Thankfully, I do have an on-campus job,” Connor said. “If it wasn’t for that job and I had no CalFresh, I really would be food insecure.”
Vonnie Nightingale Smith, a fourth-year international development studies student and a member of the Community Program Office’s Student Leadership Council, said the CPO office – which manages CalFresh for UCLA students – is preparing to support students who may experience food insecurity due to the program’s suspension.
“The impact will be significant because a lot of students rely on CalFresh and the SNAP benefits,” Nightingale Smith said.
The CPO office is planning on increasing food availability at the CPO Food Closet, as well as continuing a program providing students with hot meals this fall, which is usually reserved for the winter and spring quarters.
Jiorden King, a fourth-year psychology student and interim chair of the CPO’s SLC, said CPO plans on expanding other basic needs programs, as the office is now expecting students to use funds they previously used for transportation and other needs on groceries and food.
“’We’re just going to try to increase all of the resources that we usually have as an annual thing and just continue to be reliable to our students,” King said.
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